SCENE     IN    ST.     AUGUSTINE. 


IN  THE 


PIONEERS 


IN    THE 


SETTLEMENT  OF  AMERICA 


FROM  FLORIDA  IN  1510  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1849. 

BY 

WILLIAM    A.   CRAFTS. 


ELEGANTLY    ILLUSTRATED    UNDER    THE    SUPERVISION    OF    GEORGE   T.  ANDREW, 

FROM    ORIGINAL    DESIGNS 
BY  F.O.C.  DARLEY,  WM.  L.  SHEPARD,  GRANVILLE  PERKINS,  ETC. 


VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED   BY  SAMUEL  WALKER  AND  COMPANY. 

1876. 


E 

0 


Copyright, 

SAMUEL    WALKER    &    CO., 
1876. 


•^CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.j. 


ELECTROTYPED   AT  THE  BOSTON   STEREOTYPE   FOUNDRY, 
19   SPRING   LANE. 


CONTENTS 

I 

VOLUME   I. 


CHAPTER  PACK 

I.  —  Ponce  de  Leon  and  Florida, 5 

II.  —  Expedition  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto, 10 

III.  —  Expedition  of  De  Soto.  —  The  Mississippi.  —  Death  of  De  Soto,    ....  23 

IV.  —  Huguenot  Settlement  in  Florida 31 

V.  —  The  Huguenot  Settlement.  —  Massacre  by  the  Spaniards, 42 

VI.  —  Spanish  Settlement  at  St.  Augustine,     .........  49 

VII.  —  The  French  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  —  Roberval  and  Marguerite,        .         .         .        .  56 

VIII.  —  French  Settlement  in  Acadia 61 

IX.  —  The  French  in  Acadia.  — Jesuit  Schemes  and  English  Exploits,     ....  68 

X.  —  Champlain  in  Canada, 79 

XI.  —  Quebec  and  the  Jesuits,          ............  92 

XII. —  English  Settlers  in  North  Carolina, 103 

XIII.  —The  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke.  —  Gosnold's  Failure, 109 

XIV.  — Jamestown  and  Captain  John  Smith, •        •  115 

XV.  —  Vicissitudes  at  Jamestown, 146 

XVI.  —  Pocahontas, 158 

XVII.  —  Argall.  —  A  New  Charter.  —  Introduction  of  Slaves.  —  Importation  of  Wives,    .         .  169 

XVIII.  —  Massacre  of  Settlers  by  the  Indians 177 

XIX.  —  Character  of  the  Virginia  Colonists.  —  Condition  in  1648,       .....  184 

XX. — Virginia  under  the  Commonwealth, 189 

XXI.  —  Royalist  Oppression.  —  Bacon's  Rebellion, 193 

XXII. —The  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,       . 208 

XXIII.  —  Disagreeable  Neighbors.  —  Miles  Standish  and  the  Indians, 220 

XXIV.  —  Winslow's  Visit  to  Massasoit, 230 

XXV.  —  Merry  Mount.  —  Standish  suppresses  a  Nuisance 235 

XXVI.  —  Charter  and  Government  of  the  Plymouth  Colony, 242 

XXVII.  —  The  Pilgrim  Leaders,     . 245 

XXVIII.  — Early  Settlers  around  Massachusetts  Bay. —  The  Puritans,           ....  248 

XXIX.  —  Early  Punishments  of  Obnoxious  Persons, 263 

XXX. — Intolerance.  —  Roger  Williams.  —  Anne  Hutchinson,     ......  269 

XXXI.  —  Pilgrims  and  Puritans.  —  Incidents,  Episodes,  and  Characteristics,          .         .         .  277 

XXXII.  —  Religion.  —  Military  Organization.  —  Education, 287 


CONTENTS. 

XXXIII.  —  Roger  Williams  at  Providence, 296 

XXXIV.  —  Pioneers  and  Settlers  in  Connecticut,      .        .        .         .                 .  t     .        .        .  303 
XXXV.  —  Indian  Murders  and  English  Vengeance .        .        .  310 

XXXVI.  —  The  Pequot  War, 315 

XXXVII.  —  Colonies  of  New  Haven  and  Saybrook, 325 

XXXVIII.  —  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  .                 329 

XXXIX.  —  Uncas  and  Miantonomoh 331 

XL.  —  The  Connecticut  Colonists  and  the  Dutch  and  Indians,       .....  337 

XLI.  —  Eliot,  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians'.  —  Mayhew,   ........  346 

XLII.  —  Persecution  of  Quakers, 3152 

XLIII.  —  The  Regicides,  Whalley  and  Goffe, "   .        .        .        .366 

XLIV.  —  King  Philip  and  the  Colonists, 377 

XLV.  —  King  Philip's  War 384 

XLVI. —  King  Philip's  War. —The  Narragansetts, 396 

XLVII. — Attack  on  Lancaster.  —  Mrs.  Rowlandson's  Captivity, 400 

XLVIII.  —  Continuation  and  End  of  the  War. —  Death  of  King  Philip,       ....  408 

XLIX. — Massacre  and  Captivities, 414 

L.  —  Royal  Tyranny  in  New  England,  and  the  Spirit  of  Liberty,       ....  428 

LI.  —  Witchcraft 443 

LIT.  —  Between  the  Lines  of  History, 456 

LIU.  —  Maine.  —  The  Pophain  Colony  at  Sagadahock,  ........  464 

LIV.  —  Maine.  —  Plantations  and  Trading-posts, 470 

LV.  —  Conflicts  of  Rival  French  Claimants, 482 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

VOLUME    I. 


I. 

FRONTISPIECE.     (Scene  in  St.  Augustine.) 

PAGE 

2. 

"3 

3- 

BURIAL  OF  DE  SOTO  

28 

4- 

35 

5- 

MASSACRE  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS  AT  FORT  CAROLINA, 

44 

6. 

DINING  HALL  OF  THE  FRENCH  COLONISTS  AT  PORT  ROYAL, 

66 

7- 

BAPTISM  OF  INDIANS  AT  PORT  ROYAL,         .... 

69 

8. 

FAMISHED  INDIANS  SEEKING  FOOD  AT  QUEBEC, 

82 

9- 

CHAMPLAIN  FIGHTING  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  INDIANS, 

85 

10. 

THE  JESUIT  BREBEUF  CONFRONTING  THE  INDIAN  COUNCIL,  . 

101- 

ii. 

BAPTISM  OF  VIRGINIA  DARE,          

in 

12. 

THE  SETTLERS  AT  JAMESTOWN,          

.     116 

13.  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  SETTLERS  IN  VIRGINIA,        .........  119 

14.  JOHN  SMITH  A  CAPTIVE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS, 126 

15.  CAPTAIN  SMITH  AND  THE  CHIEF  PASPAHEGH, 139 

16.  MARRIAGE  OF  JOHN  ROLFE  AND  POCAIIONTAS, 165 

17.  WIVES  FOR  THE  SETTLERS  AT  JAMESTOWN,          .........  174 

18.  GOVERNOR  BERKELEY  AND  THE  INSURGENTS, 200 

19.  THE  MAYFLOWER  AT  SEA, 208 

20.  THE  PILGRIMS  RECEIVING  MASSASOIT, 2i6/ 

21.  DEALING  OUT  THE  FIVE  KERNELS  OF  CORN,        .........  218 

22.  RETURN  OF  MILES  STANDISH  FROM  WESSAGUSSET, 229. 

23.  REVELS  AT  MERRY  MOUNT, 236 

24.  ENDICOT  CUTTING  DOWN  MORTON'S  MAY-POLE, 263 

25.  CODDINGTON  AND  GORTON 275 

26.  A  FALSE  ALARM, 277 

27.  QUARREL  OF  WINTHROP  AND  DUDLEY,         ..........  279 

28.  A  PLYMOUTH  VESSEL  PASSING  THE  BUTCH  FORT  AT  GOOD  HOPE, 304 

29.  HOOKER  AND  HIS  FRIENDS  REACH  THE  CONNECTICUT, 307 

30.  JOHN  GALLUP'S  EXPLOIT, 312' 

31.  ROGER  WILLIAMS  OPPOSING  THE  PEOJJOT  EMISSARIES,      .......  317 

32.  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PEOJJOTS, 320 

33.  ENGLISH  AND  DUTCH  QUARRELS  IN  CONNECTICUT, 338 

34.  WHIPPING  OF  QUAKERS  AT  THE  CART'S  TAIL  IN  BOSTON, 364 

35-  GOFFE  RALLYING  THE  MEN  OF  HADLEY, 39O 

36.  BLOODY  BROOK, 392 

37-  MRS.  ROWLANDSON  AND  HER  INDIAN  CAPTORS, 4O2 

38.  DEATH  OF  KING  PHILIP, 413 

39-  MR.    DUSTAN    PROTECTING    HIS    CHILDREN, 4«6 

40.  ANDROS  A  PRISONER  IN  BOSTON, 44' 

41.  WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE, 452 

42.  STOLEN  FROLIC  IN  A  PURITAN  FARMHOUSE, 457 

43.  WEYMOUTH  SAILING  UP  THE  PENOBSCOT, 464 

44.  A  LORD-MAYOR'S  PROCESSION  AT  AGAMENTICUS, 479 


PREFACE. 


THE  pioneers  in  the  settlement  of  our  country  include  a  wide  range 
of  characters  —  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot,  the  fierce  French  Huguenot, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant 
Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive  Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fear- 
less Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  peaceful  Qua- 
ker of  Pennsylvania,  the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Amsterdam,  the 
daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the  early  colonists 
seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the 
gold-hunter  of  California,  and  others,  less  distinctly  marked,  but  whose 
career  is  full  of  interest. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  give  a  connected  and  com- 
plete history  of  the  settlements  of  Europeans  in  America,  and  of  sub- 
sequent emigration  to  the  west,  but  rather  to  delineate  some  of  the 
events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  characteristics  of  the  pioneers, 
their  manner  of  life,  the  hardships  they  endured,  and  the  perils  they 
encountered.  As  with  the  lapse  of  time  the  earlier  events  and  incidents 
recede  into  a  remote  past,  a  romantic  interest  attaches  to  them,  which, 
in  spite  of  much  that  is  harsh  and  commonplace,  makes  their  rela- 
tion attractive. 

While  the  work  relates  especially  to  settlements  within  the  limits 
of  the  United  States,  the  earlier  efforts  of  the  Spaniards  for  the  con- 
quest and  colonization  of  "  Florida,"  though  unsuccessful,  were  such 
exploits  of  knight-errantry  as  seem  to  demand  a  place  in  its  pages. 

3 


4  PREFA  CE. 

So,  too,  the  adventures  of  French  pioneers  in  Canada,  which  led  to 
the  establishment  of  a  long  line  of  trading  posts  and  missionary  stations 
in  the  wilderness  of  the  north-west,  and  thence  down  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Gulf,  cannot  well  be  omitted.  But  the  chief  interest 
attaches  to  the  English-speaking  settlers  and  emigrants,  who  laid  the 
foundations  for  the  building  up  of  the  nation,  which  now  extends  across 
the  continent,  and  occupies  that  vast  territory  which,  in  all  its  unknown 
extent,  European  monarchs  once  claimed  each  as  his  own  domain. 

The  story  of  the  pioneers,  however,  is  not  confined  to  the  earlier 
settlement  of  Europeans  in  America;  the  later  emigration  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  to  the  great  west  —  over  the  Alleghanies  into  the  rich 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  across  the  plains,  and  be- 
yond the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  —  is  not  without 
its  peculiar  features,  which  are  worthy  of  record  and  illustration.  The 
experiences  of  these  later  pioneers  in  the  interior  present  some  strong 
contrasts  to  those  of  the  early  colonists,  but  they  exhibit  the  same 
phases  of  human  nature,  —  reckless  adventure,  daring,  energy,  and  en- 
durance, —  under  different  circumstances,  and  at  a  later  stage  of  the 
world's  progress. 

The  illustrations,  which  form  an  important  and  most  attractive  fea- 
ture of  the  work,  are  from  original  designs  by  artists  of  established 
reputation,  whose  skill  and  conscientious  study  of  their  subjects  render 
their  productions  a  valuable  aid  in  realizing  the  scenes  and  events 
described,  and  will  be  found  eminently  worthy  of  public  favor.  The 
engraving,  executed  under  the  supervision  of  George  T.  Andrew,  is  in 
the  highest  style  of  the  art,  and  is  not  surpassed  by  any  work  of  its 
class  ever  produced  in  this  country. 


I. 


PONCE  DE  LEON  AND  FLORIDA. 


HE  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  and  the  explo- 
rations of  subsequent  voyagers  awakened  a  spirit  of  ad- 
venture among  the  people  of  Western  Europe.  The 
Spaniards,  under  the  auspices  of  whose  government  Co- 
lumbus had  made  his  memorable  voyages,  were  the 
foremost  in  following  up  the  advantages  which  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Western  Indies  and  the  adjacent  conti- 
nent promised,  and  they  soon  had  possession  of  all  the  principal  islands 
of  the  Antilles.  From  these,  their  expeditions,  ever  in  search  of  gold 
and  silver,  reached  the  southern  continent;  Cortes  achieved  the  con- 
quest of  Mexico;  Pizarro  subdued  and  plundered  Peru;  and  adven- 
turers of  less  renown  sought  other  lands  which  should  afford  them 
equal  distinction  and  wealth.  Their  early  expeditions  were  chiefly 
within  the  tropics,  the  vast  continent  lying  north  being  as  yet  scarcely 
known  to  exist,  while  the  luxuriance  of  tropical  vegetation,  un warlike 
and  easily-subdued  natives,  and  imaginary  stores  of  wealth,  still  offered 
tempting  fields  for  conquest.  It  was  not  till  1565,  three  quarters  of  a 
century  after  the  occupation  of  the  Antilles,  that  they  established  the 
first  permanent  settlement  of  Europeans  within  the  limits  of  what  is 
now  the  United  States,  in  Florida,  and  called  it  St.  Augustine. 

5 


6  PONCE  DE  LEON  AND  FLORIDA. 

Previous  to  this,  however,  there  had  been  several  expeditions,  partly 
private  and  partly  under  the  auspices  of  the  Spanish  government,  to 
conquer  the  country,  and  subject  it  to  the  dominion  of  Spain  by  the 
establishment  of  a  viceroyalty  over  its  imaginary  populous  cities  and 
mines  of  coveted  wealth.  Such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  Span- 
iards "  colonized "  the  countries  which  they  discovered  and  claimed, 
and  the  purpose  of  these  expeditions  was  to  occupy  and  hold  Florida 
as  the  Antilles  and  Mexico  were  occupied.  At  this  distance  of  time 
a  halo  of  romance  surrounds  these  adventurers,  and  though  they  failed 
in  accomplishing  their  purposes,  the  story  of  their  attempts  to  realize 
vain  dreams  possesses  an  interest  far  exceeding  that  which  attaches  to 
the  more  successful  settlers. 

Ponce  de  Leon  is  called  the  discoverer  of  Florida,  though  it  is  pos- 
sible that  adventurous  mariners  had  previously  traded  at  some  points 
on  the  coast.  In  some  way  an  Indian  myth  was  made  known  to  the 
Spaniards  that  in  the  interior  of  the  vast  island  or  vaster  continent  at 
the  north  there  was  a  fountain  of  perpetual  youth,  wrhose  waters  would 
renew  the  life,  and  strength,  and  beauty  of  those  who  were  so  fortunate 
as  to  bathe  therein,  and  drinking  thereof  would  preserve  unfading  youth. 
This  fable  was  almost  universally  believed  by  the  Spaniards  of  those 
credulous  times,  not  only  in  the  West  Indies  but  in  Old  Spain,  and 
many  a  high-born  dame  of  Castile  ardently  hoped  that  some  fortunate 
knight-errant  might  discover  this  precious  fountain,  and  bring  some  of 
its  magic  waters  across  the  sea.  And  why  not?  Alchemy  had  not 
yet  ceased  from  the  labors,  which  it  had  for  ages  pursued,  to  discover 
the  elixir  of  life,  and  to  solve  the  problem  of  creating  gold.  Why 
should  not  Nature,  who  had  provided  inexhaustible  mines  of  treasure 
in  the  new  world,  also  furnish  those  inestimable  waters  far  more  po- 
tent than  the  'elixir  of  the  alchemist's  wildest  dream? 

Ponce  de  Leon  believed  with  the  rest.  The  story  of  his  expedition 
to  seek  this  wonderful  fountain  is  familiar.  Age,  which  with  hard  ser- 
vice had  furrowed  his  cheek  and  bent  his  frame,  made  him  all  the 
more  ready  to  put  faith  in  the  myth,  and  all  the  more  eager  to  test 
the  virtues  of  these  youth-restoring  waters;  he  was  wealthy,  and  could 
fit  out  an  expedition  at  his  own  expense ;  he  had  .lately  been  removed 
from  the  governorship  of  Porto  Rico,  and  enough  of  youthful  ardor 


PONCE  DE  LEON  AND  FLORIDA. 

remained  to  lead  him  to  seek  new  adventures  which  should  exceed  in 
their  results  all  that  had  yet  been  realized  in  this  new  world.  If  he 
could  discover  the  desired  fountain,  and  at  the  same  time  conquer  a 
land  abounding  in  the  precious  metals,  what  more  could  he  desire! 

'  There  came  to  De  Leon,  the  sailor, 

Some  Indian  sages  who  told 
Of  a  region  so  bright  that  the  waters 

Were  sprinkled  with  islands  of  gold. 
And  they  added,  'The  leafy  Bersini, 

A  fair  land  of  grottos  and  bowers, 
Is  there  ;   and  a  wonderful  fountain 

Upsprings  from  its  gardens  of  flowers. 
That  fountain  gives  life  to  the  dying, 

And  youth  to  the  aged  restores ; 
They  flourish  in  beauty  eternal, 

Who  set  but  their  feet  on  its  shores.' 

"Then  answered  De  Leon,  the  sailor, — 

'  I  am  withered,  and  wrinkled,  and  old ; 
I  would  rather  discover  that  fountain 

Than  a  country  of  diamonds  and  gold.' " 

He  fitted  out  an  expedition  with  three  small  vessels,  and  sailed  from 
Porto  Rico  on  his  romantic  errand  in  March,  1512.  After  sailing 
among  the  Bahamas,  where  he  got  no  intelligence  of  the  object  of  his 
search,  he  turned  to  the  west,  and  on  Easter  Sunday  discovered  land, 
which  he  named  Florida,  in  honor  of  the  day,  called  Pascua  Florida 
by  the  Spaniards.  Island  or  continent,  it  was  clothed  with  magnificent 
forests,  where  the  magnolia  lifted  its  flowery  crown  beyond  the  pal- 
mettos that  fringed  the  shore.  But  no  safe  harbor  offered  an  anchor- 
age, and  bad  weather  kept  the  voyagers  for  some  days  from  placing 
foot  upon  the  promised  land.  At  length  Ponce,  with  some  of  his  fol- 
lowers, landed  at  a  point  a  little  north  of  the  place  where  St.  Augus- 
tine was  subsequently  founded.  The  natives  appeared  hostile,  and  were 
not  disposed  to  let  the  intruders  penetrate  their  domain.  He  could 
learn  nothing  of  the  locality  of  the  fabled  fountain,  and  if  the  natives 
deigned  to  signify  its  existence,  it  was  always  far  away,  —  haply  in  those 


8  PONCE  DE  LEON  AND  FLORIDA. 

happy  hunting-grounds  beyond  the  Indian's  mortal  life.  Ponce  then 
explored  the  coast  of  his  discovered  land,  sailing  south  and  doubling 
the  cape,  and  visiting  the  Tortugas.  But  he  found  no  opportunity  to 
land  and  penetrate  the  interior  of  Florida,  and  the  fountain  of  youth 
remained  undiscovered.  He  returned  to  Porto  Rico  determined  to  an- 
nounce his  discovery  to  his  sovereign,  and  claim  the  right  and  the 
power  to  accomplish  his  undertaking  as  an  officer  of  Spain. 

Ponce  went  to  Spain,  announced  his  discovery  of  a  new  country  to 
be  added  to  the  dominions  of  his  Catholic  majesty,  and  was  appointed 
governor  of  this  new  province  on  condition  that  he  should  plant  a 
colony  there.  Nine  years  elapsed  before  he  succeeded  in  securing  the 
aid  he  desired,  and  was  able  to  fit  out  a  new  expedition  to  secure  his 
prize.  These  added  years,  however,  had  not  diminished  his  desire  to 
find  the  magic  waters  and  secure  unbounded  riches.  With  two  ships 
he  sailed  to  carry  out  the  conditions  on  which  the  government  of  the 
new  province  was  granted,  and  to  realize  the  dreams  which  he  had 
so  long  cherished.  But  the  natives  were  even  more  determined  than 
before  to  prevent  the  invasion  of  their  domains,  and  when  he  landed 
they  attacked  the  Spaniards  with  great  ferocity,  and  drove  them  on 
board  the  ships  again,  with  the  loss  of  many  men.  Among  the  wound- 
ed was  Ponce  himself.  An  Indian  arrow  inflicted  a  mortal  wound  on 
his  body;  his  failure  as  severely  wounded  his  pride  and  quenched  his 
ardor;  his  expectations  were  disappointed;  he  was  old,  with  no  more 
hope  of  rejuvenescence;  and  with  the  remnant  of  his  expedition  he 
sailed  away  to  Cuba  to  die. 

"  One  day  the  old  sailor  lay  dying 

On  the  shore  of  a  tropical  isle, 
And  his  heart  was  rekindled  with  rapture, 

And  his  face  lighted  up  with  a  smile. 
He  thought  of  the  sunny  Antilles, 

He  thought  of  the  shady  Azores, 
He  thought  of  the  dreamy  Bahamas, 

He  thought  of  sweet  Florida's  shores. 
And  when  in  his  mind  he  passed  over 

His  wonderful  travels  of  old, 
He  thought  of  the  heavenly  country, 

Of  the  city  of  jasper  and  gold. 


PONCE  DE  LEON.    NARVAEZ.  g 

'Thank  the  Lord!'  said  De  Leon,  the  sailor, 
'  Thank  the  Lord  for  the  light  of  the  truth  ! 

I  now  am  approaching  the  fountain, 
The  beautiful  Fountain  of  Youth  ! ' 

"The  cabin  was  silent.     At  twilight 

They  heard  the  birds  singing  a  psalm ; 
And  the  wind  of  the  ocean  came  sighing 

Through  orange-groves  fragrant  with  balm. 
The  sailor  still  lay  on  his  pallet, 

'Neath  the  low-hanging  vines  of  the  roof; 
His  soul  had  gone  forth  to  discover 

The  beautiful  Fountain  of  Youth." 

The  next  Spanish  expedition  to  Florida  was  less  romantic,  but 
more  warlike,  and  in  the  end  even  less  successful.  It  was  under  the 
command  of  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez,  who  was  authorized  to  conquer 
Florida  for  the  glory  of  Spain.  He  was  a  grim  soldier,  and  probably 
had  little  faith  in  the  existence  of  the  mythical  fountain  which  could 
restore  an  eye  that  he  had  lost  in  Mexico.  He  went  to  subdue  the 
natives,  to  subject  them  to  slavery,  and  to  plunder  them  of  their  im- 
agined wealth,  —  to  repeat  the  exploits  which  Cortes  had  been  per- 
forming in  Mexico.  He  landed  with  three  hundred  men,  and  was 
soon  lured  by  the  hostile  natives  into  almost  impenetrable  forests  and 
swamps.  Instead  of  cities  containing  vast  amounts  of  treasure,  he 
found  only  small  collections  of  mean  wigwams,  and  instead  of  weak, 
indolent,  and  confiding  natives,  he  found  a  scattered,  but  brave  and 
suspicious  people,  who  by  cunning  and  open  hostility  constantly  led 
him  astray  and  reduced  his  numbers.  After  six  months  of  weary 
marches,  fearful  sufferings,  and  heavy  losses,  the  survivors  again  reached 
the  coast,  and  constructing  some  frail  boats  they  gladly  left  the  shores 
which  had  proved  so  disastrous.  But  the  sea  was  no  less  fatal,  and 
the  boats  were  all  wrecked,  only  four  of  the  party  escaping  to  return  to 
their  countrymen  by  way  of  Mexico,  after  almost  incredible  sufferings. 

NO.    I.  2 


II. 


EXPEDITION    OF    FERDINAND    DE   SOTO. 


OTWITHSTANDING  the  disastrous  experiences  of 
Ponce  de  Leon  and  Narvaez,  Florida  was  still  sup- 
posed to  rival  Mexico  and  Peru  in  wealth;  indeed, 
all  America  seemed  to  the  Spaniards  to  be  the  land 
of  inexhaustible  treasures,  which  it  was  their  privilege 
to  plunder.  Nine  years  after  the  unfortunate  expedi- 
tion of  Narvaez,  in  1538,  a  new  and  more  formida- 
ble one  was  fitted  out  from  Spain  under  the  auspices  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  command  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto. 

De  Soto  had  been  the  friend  and  lieutenant  of  Pizarro  in  the  conquest 
of  Peru,  where  he  had  shared  the  good  fortune  of  that  leader,  and  had 
returned  to  Spain  with  his  portion  of  the  plunder  before  internal  feuds 
among  the  Spanish  conquerors  should  deprive  him  of  it.  In  Spain  for  a 
time  he  displayed  his  wealth  and  enjoyed  his  reputation  as  one  of  the 
most  successful  soldiers  of  the  time,  second  only  to  Pizarro  in  the  distinc- 
tion of  having  added  to  the  Spanish  empire  a  province  of  boundless 
wealth.  He  was  received  with  the  highest  honors  at  court,  and  was 
everywhere  lauded  by  the  people.  But  his  ambition  was  not  satisfied: 
he  had  been  only  a  subordinate  in  Peru;  he  desired  to  be  the  leader  in  a 
more  brilliant  conquest,  and  to  surpass  his  former  friend  in  the  acquisition 
of  wealth.  The  favor  with  which  he  was  received  by  Charles  V.  made 
him  far  from  backward  in  asserting  his  claims  and  preferring  requests. 
He  asked  for  the  most  important  position  in  the  new  world,  with  the 
privilege  of  conquering  Florida,  a  country  which,  in  the  Spanish  geogra- 
phy of  that  period,  extended  indefinitely  to  the  north  and  west  of  the 

10 


EXPEDITION  OF  DE  SO  TO.  IT 

shores  to  which  the  name  was  first  applied.  His  demands  were  con- 
ceded; he  was  made  governor  of  Cuba,  and  was  authorized,  in  the  name 
of  Spain,  to  conquer  and  hold  the  vast  territory  which  in  the  interior  was 
believed  to  contain  richer  and  more  important  places  than  the  cities  of  the 
Montezumas  or  the  Incas. 

When  De  Soto  announced  his  purpose,  adventurers  of  all  grades 
flocked  to  his  standard,  and  desired  to  join  an  expedition  which,  under  his 
lead,  promised  such  brilliant  results.  Noble  and  peasant,  soldier  and 
civilian,  merchant  and  artisan,  rich  and  poor,  were  alike  eager  to  share  in 
the  glory  and  wealth  which  they  anticipated  would  be  the  fruits  of  the 
expedition.  Many  an  hidalgo  disposed  of  his  estates  to  secure  means  to  fit 
out  himself  and  his  followers,  and  men  of  humbler  station  in  like  manner 
sold  their  property  to  procure  arms  and  other  necessaries  for  the  voyage 
and  the  campaign.  The  wildest  hopes  were  excited,  for  all  had  full  faith 
in  the  experience  and  knowledge  of  one  who  had  endured  the  perils,  won 
the  distinction,  and  secured  the  profits  of  a  campaign  in  the  new  world. 
Not  only  Spaniards,  but  many  Portuguese,  when  they  heard  of  the  expe- 
dition, sought  to  join  it,  and  came  well  prepared  for  the  service  which  the 
famous  leader  might  expect  of  them. 

All  these  aspirants  after  fame  and  riches  assembled  in  the  port  of  San 
Lucar,  where  De  Soto  was  fitting  out  his  ships.  From  the  great  number 
of  eager  volunteers  he  selected  such  as  seemed  best  to  answer  his  purpose, 
including  several  hundred  horsemen,  and  organized  them  into  a  small 
army;  and  scarcely  a  smaller  number  were  doomed  to  the  disappointment 
of  remaining  at  home.  He  supplied  his  ships  with  everything  that  his 
former  experience  suggested,  and  the  cruelty  which  had  been  practised  in 
Peru  taught  him  to  provide  chains  and  fetters,  and  instruments  of  torture, 
for  the  natives,  whom  he  expected  to  enslave  and  plunder.  He  was 
careful  to  secure  a  sufficient  number  of  artisans,  with  the  implements  of 
their  respective  trades,  to  repair  arms  and  equipments,  build  bridges, 
and  perform  other  mechanical  labors  which  might  be  necessary  on  the 
march,  or  in  the  "  palaces "  of  the  conquered  chieftains.  A  pack  of 
bloodhounds,  withal,  was  deemed  essential  to  complete  the  outfit,  the 
cruel  purposes  of  which  were  thus  made  manifest.  As  if  to  sanctify  all 
these  preparations  for  the  destruction,  torture,  and  robbery  of  the  poor 
natives,  a  number  of  priests  and  ecclesiastics,  of  various  grades,  with  the 


I2  EXPEDITION  OF  DE   SO  TO. 

insignia  of  the  church,  accompanied  the  expedition,  to  perform  the  sol- 
emn ceremonies  which  the  faith  and  religious  zeal  of  the  adventurers 
required,  and  perchance  to  convert  such  captives  as  the  sword  and  the 
bloodhounds  might  spare. 

With  such  a  force  and  outfit,  far  more  complete  and  formidable  than 
those  with  which  Cortes  and  Pizarro  had  achieved  their  conquests,  De 
Soto  set  sail,  with  the  blessing  of  the  church  and  amid  the  shouts  of  the 
populace  that  swarmed  on  the  shores.  The  fleet  proceeded  to  Cuba, 
where  De  Soto  assumed  his  office  of  governor,  and  made  further  prep- 
arations for  carrying  out  his  enterprise,  and  was  joined  by  some  of  the 
residents  in  that  island  whose  avarice  was  not  satisfied  with  the  wealth 
they  were  amassing  there.  Meanwhile  one  or  two  of  his  ships  were  sent 
to  Florida,  to  explore  the  coast  and  seek  a  harbor.  The  harbor  was 
found,  and  two  natives  were  captured  and  brought  back  to  Cuba.  Com- 
munication could  be  held  with  them  only  by  signs,  and  the  first  question 
proposed  to  them  was  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  existence  of 
gold  in  Florida.  Whether  by  the  misinterpretation  of  signs  or  the  de- 
ception of  the  Indians,  the  Spaniards  were  led  to  believe  that  the 
country  they  were  to  invade  abounded  in  the  precious  metal,  and  they 
were  more  eager  than  ever  to  enter  upon  their  career  of  conquest,  and 
secure  the  wealth  which  they  imagined  so  near. 

The  fetes  which  followed  the  arrival  of  De  Soto  in  Cuba  being  over, 
and  his  preparations  being  completed,  he  left  his  young  wife  to  administer 
the  government  of  the  island,  and  sailed  for  his  more  magnificent  province. 
The  voyage  was  short,  but  it  was  a  fortnight  before  they  reached  a  harbor 
where  they  could  effect  a  landing.  This  was  in  the  Bay  of  Espiritu 
Santo;*  and  on  landing,  De  Soto,  with  religious  ceremonies,  set  up  the 
standard  of  Spain,  and  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of 
his  sovereign.  The  work  of  disembarking  so  many  men,  with  their 
equipments,  stores,  and  mechanical  implements,  two  or  three  hundred 
horses,  and  a  drove  of  swine,  which  were  to  accompany  the  expedition 
for  food,  was  long  and  laborious.  But  at  last  it  was  accomplished,  the 
forces  were  organized,  the  labor  of  transporting  the  luggage  provided  for, 
and  the  command  was  ready  to  move  on  its  march  to  conquer  what  they 
imagined  to  be  the  richest  country  that  had  yet  been  discovered.  The 

*  Now  Tampa  Bay. 


BIVOUAC    OF    DE    SOTo's    EXPEDITION    IN    FLORIDA. 


DE   SO  TO  IN  FLORIDA.  T, 

few  natives  who  appeared  were  made  captives,  to  guide  the  invaders  to 
the  rich  interior.  With  these  uncertain  guides,  who  could  not  compre- 
hend the  avarice  which  prompted  so  formidable  an  expedition,  or  who 
purposely  deceived  their  captors,  the  march  commenced.  Thick  forests 
and  troublesome  swamps  soon  impeded  their  progress;  a  luxuriant  vege- 
tation surrounded  them;  but  their  thoughts  were  on  the  spoils  which 
they  believed  were  before  them,  and  neither  toils  disturbed  nor  the  beau- 
ties of  nature  attracted  them. 

De  Soto  did  not  "burn  his  ships,"  but  he  gave  orders  for  most  of  them 
to  return  immediately  to  Cuba.  A  few,  however,  remained,  and  among 
them  one  fitted  out  from  Cuba,  by  Porcallo,  at  great  expense.  This 
man,  who  was  advanced  in  years,  was  a  wealthy  resident  of  Cuba,  and 
had  joined  the  expedition  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  slaves  to  labor 
on  his  vast  estates.  The  experience  of  a  few  days  was  sufficient  to 
prove  to  him  that  he  was  not  equal  to  the  toil  of  such  a  march,  while 
the  chances  of  speedily  loading  his  ship  with  slaves  receded  rapidly 
from  the  expectations  he  had  indulged.  He  therefore  returned  to  the 
coast  with  his  followers,  and  embarking,  sailed  away  for  Cuba.  The 
haughty  De  Soto  wasted  no  words  on  him,  but  lest  his  example  should 
prove  contagious,  pressed  forward  with  a  confidence  which  inspired  the 
rest. 

Full  of  hope,  the  invaders  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  their  march 
through  those  unexplored  regions.  A  genial  climate,  whose  noonday 
heat  was  tempered  by  abundant  shade,  —  no  lack  of  food,  which  captive 
Indians  were  compelled  to  assist  in  transporting,  —  a  free,  holiday  life, 
which  was  to  be  crowned  with  wealth  and  honors,  —  all  contributed  to 
make  their  journey  one  of  excitement  and  pleasure.  Imagine  a  bivouac 
of  this  strange  host  in  an  opening  of  a  Florida  forest.  Everywhere  in  the 
grateful  shade  weary  soldiers  lie  stretched  upon  the  ground,  or  recline 
against  the  giant  trunks,  dreaming  of  their  anticipated  success,  or,  haply, 
of  their  far-off  homes  in  Old  Spain,  where  wife  and  children  sadly  count 
the  months  which  must  elapse  ere  they  return  laden  with  riches.  Hun- 
gry men  are  devouring  their  rations,  which  arc  not  yet  reduced  to  a 
short  allowance.  Horsemen  have  dismounted,  and  lazily  groom  and 
feed  their  animals.  Artisans  examine  and  repair  arms  and  trappings, 
or  cut  young  saplings  from  which  to  fashion  new  lances.  A  body  of 


I4  EXPEDITION   OF  DE   SO  TO. 

priests,  with  all  the  insignia  of  their  office  and  the  altar,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  leaders  of  the  expedition,  march  in  solemn  procession 
through  aisles  more  grand  than  the  proudest  cathedral  of  Old  Spain  can 
boast,  to  commemorate  some  obscure  saint,  or  to  dedicate  the  land  to  the 
dominion  of  the  church.  Here  and  there,  in  contrast  with  the  religious 
ceremonies,  are  gathered  groups  of  the  adventurers,  playing  cards  (a  game 
which  at  that  time  was  a  passion  with  the  Spaniards),  and  recklessly 
staking  their  coin  or  their  trinkets,  and  even  their  shares  of  prospective 
plunder,  while  a  few  Indian  captives,  with  iron  collars  on  their  necks  and 
fetters  on  their  wrists,  look  on  in  silent  wonder,  and  leashed  and  muzzled 
bloodhounds  crouch,  harmless  for  the  time,  near  by.  It  is  a  veritable 
holiday  in  the  woods,  and  there  rises  from  this  strange  multitude  a  din 
unwonted  in  these  solitudes,  and  yet  not  boisterous,  in  which  are  mingled 
the  sacred  chant  and  the  bacchanalian  song,  the  soft  Castilian  tongue  and 
hoarse  laughter,  and  through  it  all  the  sleepers  slumber  undisturbed. 

But  this  novelty  of  the  campaign,  which  made  it  at  first  seem  but  a 
holiday  excursion,  soon  wore  off.  Days  and  weeks  passed,  and  yet  they 
found  no  signs  of  that  wealth  of  which  they  were  in  search.  The  In- 
dians whom  they  captured  or  saw  wore  no  golden  ornaments,  and  their 
dwellings  were  a  few  poor  cabins  or  wigwams,  rather  than  populous 
towns.  So  far  as  they  answered  the  anxious  inquiries  of  the  Spaniards 
for  the  region  of  opulent  cities,  they  pointed  far  away,  and  not  always 
in  the  same  direction.  Continued  disappointment  led  the  invaders  to 
believe  that  they  were  deceived,  and  they  began  to  practise  a  cruelty 
towards  the  poor  natives  which,  at  a  later  period,  they  indulged  to  a 
fearful  extent.  On  the  march  they  found  one  of  their  countrymen  who 
had  been  held  in  captivity  by  the  Indians  since  the  unsuccessful  expe- 
dition of  Narvaez;  but  though  he  had  never  heard  of  any  region  of  gold 
and  silver,  or  of  any  populous  and  permanently  constructed  towns,  they 
still  believed  in  the  reality  of  their  golden  dreams,  and  that  their 
guides  were  purposely  leading  them  astray.  They  tortured  these  un- 
willing guides,  and  threatened  to  deliver  them  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  bloodhounds;  but  torture  and  threats  were  of  no  avail,  and  if 
under  such  pressure  the  direction  of  the  march  was  varied,  it  brought 
them  no  nearer  to  the  realization  of  their  hopes.  They  were  continu- 
ally involved  in  difficult  forests  and  dangerous  swamps.  The  natives 


IN  WINTER   QUARTERS.  !S 

they  met  exhibited  signs  of  hostility,  and  though  feeble  in  numbers  and 
arms,  opposed  the  progress  of  the  invaders  with  such  means  as  they 
could.  Such  as  were  captured  were  put  to  death,  or  fettered  and 
doomed  to  slavery. 

Thus  through  the  summer  months  De  Soto  made  his  slow  and 
laborious  progress,  and  in  the  autumn  he  reached  the  head  of  Appala- 
chee  Bay.  Here,  on  more  favorable  ground,  he  halted.  His  men  and 
horses  had  suffered  much,  and  were  worn  down  with  fatigue,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  recruit  their  strength  before  continuing  the  march. 
With  fatigue  came  also  the  heart-sickness  of  hope  deferred.  Many  of 
the  men  now  despaired  of  success;  the  promised  wealth  seemed  to 
have  receded  with  their  lengthened  march,  and  they  became  dispirited, 
and  talked  of  abandoning  the  further  search,  and  returning  to  Cuba  and 
Spain.  De  Soto  himself  brooded  gloomily  over  his  disappointment,  but 
he  could  not  brook  the  idea  of  failure.  He  established  a  permanent 
camp  in  which  to  pass  the  winter,  and  prepare  for  a  more  vigorous  search 
in  the  spring. 

But  the  spirit  of  discontent  continued,  and  while  the  haughty  and 
reticent  leader  crushed  his  own  misgivings,  and,  indulging  in  his  dream 
of  conquest  and  wealth,  laid  his  plans  for  the  future,  some  of  his  offi- 
cers approached  him  and  represented  the  uselessness  of  continuing  the 
expedition.  "  For  months,"  they  said,  "  we  have  toiled  through  these  dis- 
mal forests  and  swamps,  and  yet  we  find  no  wealthy  cities  and  no  sign  of 
gold.  The  men  are  worn  out  and  dispirited,  the  horses  are  broken 
down.  Cuba  and  Hispaniola  offer  us  better  things;  let  us  turn  back." 

De  Soto  listened  in  silence.  He  was  a  man  of  few  words,  and  he 
knew  that  his  will  was  law  to  his  followers.  "Turn  back!"  he  haugh- 
tily replied;  "never,  till  I  have  proved  with  my  own  eyes  that  the 
country  is  destitute  of  gold." 

Yielding  to  that  indomitable  will,  the  officers  retired,  and  sought  to 
pacify  their  discontented  followers.  To  revive  their  hopes  and  keep 
his  men  employed,  the  politic  commander  sent  out  parties  to  explore 
the  country  for  long  distances  from  the  place  where  he  had  made  his 
permanent  camp.  One  of  these  moved  westward  as  far  as  the  present 
site  of  Pensacola,  where  a  Spanish  ship  was  found,  and  a  message  was 
sent  to  Cuba  ordering  supplies  to  be  sent  to  that  harbor  for  the  next 


T6  EXPEDITION  OF  DE   SO  TO. 

year.  The  men  would  gladly  have  gone  with  the  message  if  they 
could,  but  it  was  something  to  be  able  to  communicate  with  their 
countrymen,  and  to  be  assured  that  they  would  not  want  for  food. 

In  the  spring  the  whole  body  left  their  winter  quarters,  and  started 
again  on  their  march,  with  renewed  hopes  of  finding  the  rich  country 
of  which  they  were  in  search.  De  Soto  had  secured  a  new  guide, 
and  whether  he  was  himself  deceived  by  the  poorly  interpreted  signs 
of  a  cunning  Indian,  or  to  encourage  his  followers  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  practise  some  deception  by  highly  coloring  the  native's  state- 
ments, it  was  given  out  that  this  new  guide  promised  to  lead  the  com- 
mand to  a  distant  region  which  abounded  in  gold.  This  country,  it  was 
said,  was  ruled  by  a  woman,  and  it  was  further  declared  that  the  art  of 
melting  and  refining  of  the  precious  metal  was  understood  there,  and 
was  described  by  this  guide  so  well  that  he  must  have  witnessed  the 
operation.  These  statements  inspired  the  Spaniards  with  new  hope; 
the  promised  land  was  now  sure  to  be  discovered,  for  this  was  the 
first  definite  information  they  had  received  concerning  it.  They  ceased 
to  think  of  returning,  and  eagerly  entered  upon  a  new  campaign. 

The  native  indicated  that  this  rich  country  lay  in  a  north-easterly 
direction,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  really  pointed  to  what  has  since 
been  known  as  the  gold  region  of  North  Carolina.  But  it  is  quite  as 
probable  that  the  land  of  which  he  told  —  if  he  did  describe  such  a 
land  —  was  an  Indian  myth,  and  he  sought  only  to  lead  the  strangers 
away  from  the  country  of  his  tribe.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Spaniards 
unhesitatingly  moved  in  the  direction  indicated.  On  higher  ground, 
and  less  impeded  by  morasses,  they  made  more  rapid  progress  than 
they  had  in  the  previous  year.  They  found  a  country  watered  by 
noble  rivers,  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation,  fertile  valleys,  and  forests  of 
magnificent  timber,  offering  ample  inducements  for  industrious  colonists 
to  settle.  But  they  were  in  search  of  gold,  and  a  people  whom  they 
could  enslave  and  compel  to  toil  for  their  emolument.  So  long  as 
they  met  with  no  extraordinary  obstacles,  they  thought  not  of  delay  or 
return.  After  a  time,  however,  the  Indian  guide  of  whom  they  ex- 
pected so  much,  grew  tired  of  the  service,  or,  perhaps,  thinking  he  had 
led  the  invaders  sufficiently  far  from  the  country  occupied  by  his  tribe, 
he  began  to  hesitate.  He  feigned  madness,  or  conducted  himself  in  such 


CRUELTT  TO   THE  NATIVES.  !7 

an  unusual  manner  that  the  Spaniards  thought  him  demented,  and 
called  in  the  priests  to  exorcise  the  devil  that  possessed  him.  This 
was  done  with  appropriate  ceremonies;  in  the  language  of  an  old 
chronicler,  "They  said  a  gospel  over  him,  and  the  fit  left  him." 

Though  the  devil  was  exorcised,  the  guide  failed  to  lead  the  Span- 
iards by  an  easy  path,  and  they  became  involved  in  thick  forests,  with 
frequent  morasses  and  rivers.  They  made  little  progress,  and  the  ex- 
periences of  the  previous  year  were  renewed.  The  leaders  threatened 
to  deliver  the  guide  to  the  bloodhounds,  but  he  had  become  valuable 
as  an  interpreter,  and  for  this  reason  they  forbore.  Some  other  natives 
had  recently  been  captured,  and  as  they  lived  nearer  to  the  supposed 
land  of  gold,  they  were  brought  before  De  Soto  and  his  officers  to  be 
questioned.  The  first  promptly  and  truthfully  replied,  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  such  a  country  as  they  sought.  This  so  incensed  the  com- 
mander, who  believed  that  the  native  was  deceiving  him,  that  he  gave 
order  to  have  him  burned.  The  order  was  obeyed  with  alacrity.  He 
was  bound  to  a  stake,  the  fagots  were  piled  around  him  and  lighted, 
and  the  whole  force  of  the  Spaniards  looked  on  without  remorse,  if 
not  with  satisfaction,  and  jeered  at  his  sufferings;  but  the  brave  Indian 
did  not  retract  or  falter.  His  companions,  however,  who  witnessed  the 
cruel  scene,  and  comprehended  the  cause,  learned  that  falsehood  was 
more  acceptable  to  their  captors  than  the  truth,  and  were  not  slow  to 
practise  the  deception  which  might  save  their  lives. 

This  was  the  first  act  of  extreme  cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  inva- 
ders, but  it  was  by  no  means  the  last.  As  the  march  continued 
through  weary  months  and  years,  and  the  promised  land  forever  re- 
ceded, they  avenged  their  disappointment  on  the  guiltless  natives  with 
unsparing  hand.  And  considering  the  age,  the  nation,  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  expedition,  why  should  they  not?  There  were  nobles  who 
had  exhausted  their  means  and  endured  toils  and  hardships  for  the  sake 
of  conquest,  wealth,  and  distinction.  There  were  soldiers  of  fortune, 
eager  for  the  chances  of  personal  advancement.  There  were  avari- 
cious knaves  seeking  only  for  gold,  and  reckless  adventurers  ready 
alike  for  plunder  or  for  blood.  And  there  were  priests,  who,  with  vain 
pomp,  proclaimed  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  church,  and  were  ready 
to  enforce  conversion  by  torture  and  the  stake  rather  than  teach  the 

NO  i.  3 


1 8  EXPEDITION  OF  DE   SO  TO. 

principles  of  a  better  religion  to  the  benighted  natives.  To  all  these  of 
what  account  were  the  miserable  heathen,  who  were  worse  than  heretics? 
Were  not  heretics  in  their  own  country,  men  and  women  of  their  own 
nation  and  blood,  daily  tortured,  and  not  unfrequently  burned?  De  Soto 
and  his  companions  were  not  acting  in  violation  of  the  dictates  of  their 
consciences,  the  spirit  of  the  age,  or  the  teachings  of  their  priests;  but 
a  fearful  retribution  awaited  them. 

De  Soto  believed  that  the  terrible  example  he  had  made  of  their 
comrade  had  terrified  the  other  Indians  into  telling  the  truth,  and  he 
followed  the  course  which  they  indicated,  though  it  was  only  a  cunning 
device  to  avoid  death  by  fire,  and  to  increase  the  chances  of  escape. 
This  course  led  them  at  last  to  a  small  Indian  village,  where  a  rosary  and 
a  dagger  were  found.  From  the  .uncertain  information  obtained  from 
the  natives  it  was  supposed  that  these  were  relics  of  the  expedition  of 
Vasquez  de  Ayllon,  who,  some  twenty  years  before,  had  landed  on  the 
shores  of  South  Carolina,  secured  two  ship-loads  of  natives,  and  carried 
them  away  to  slavery,  and  who,  in  a  subsequent  attempt,  was  driven 
away  with  the  loss  of  many  men. 

The  discovery  of  these  relics,  an  incident  unimportant  in  itself,  gave 
rise  to  a  new  feeling  among  a  portion  of  De  Soto's  followers.  They  had 
again  become  dispirited  by  their  toilsome  journey.  Day  after  day  the 
weary  march  had  been  resumed,  and  yet  they  saw  no  signs  of  the  coveted 
wealth;  they  found  a  country  rich  only  in  its  luxuriant  vegetation.  But 
now  these  mementos  of  their  countrymen  led  them  to  believe  that  they 
were  not  far  from  the  eastern  coast,  and  within  reach  of  the  sea,  which 
might  bear  them  to  their  home.  What  need  of  further  fruitless  toil? 
Near  the  coast  they  might  form  a  settlement;  the  rich  soil  might  be 
cultivated,  and  afford  them  ample  sustenance;  and,  eventually,  ships  from 
Spain  or  Cuba  might  offer  them  an  opportunity,  if  they  wished,  of  re- 
turning to  their  own  country.  The  idea  soon  grew  into  a  desire,  and  a 
proposition  was  made  to  De  Soto  that  it  should  be  carried  into  effect. 
The  haughty  leader  listened  patiently  to  the  proposal,  but  he  replied 
with  a  refusal  as  decisive  as  before.  He  had  come  for  conquest ;  the 
country  had  been  assigned  him  to  subdue,  and  to  discover  its  hidden 
wealth,  and  he  was  not  yet  ready  to  acknowledge  failure,  and  to  found  a 
miserable  colony  of  poverty-stricken  adventurers  where  he  had  promised 
to  establish  an  empire  of  surpassing  magnificence.  His  followers  still 


FRUITLESS   WANDERINGS.  !9 

had  faith  in  him,  and  were  accustomed  to  yield  to  his  imperious  will; 
and  though  it  may  have  been  with  disappointment  and  regret,  they  relin- 
quished the  idea  of  abandoning  the  object  of  the  expedition,  and  pre- 
pared to  continue  their  long,  difficult,  and  fruitless  wanderings. 

Under  the  direction  of  uncertain  guides  the  Spaniards  now  moved 
to  the  north,  and  during  the  months  of  the  second  summer  they  wan- 
dered about  in  various  directions  in  the  country  which  now  forms  the 
northern  part  of  Georgia  and  Alabama.  Reaching  the  mountain  ranges, 
which  they  deemed  impassable,  they  again  turned  to  the  south.  The 
natives  were  less  hostile  than  those  nearer  the  coast,  and  furnished  such 
supplies  as  their  poorly  cultivated  fields  yielded.  The  invaders,  however, 
did  not  wait  for  the  natives  to  offer  their  gifts;  they  not  only  demanded 
whatever  the  country  afforded,  but  compelled  the  Indians  to  carry  their 
burdens.  They  found  a  few  miserable  villages  of  wigwams,  but  no 
substantial  towns,  like  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  They  saw  no  orna- 
ments other  than  painted  skins  and  feathers,  and  they  discovered  no 
traces  of  precious  ores,  though  they  traversed  a  country  where,  at  a  pe- 
riod long  subsequent,  gold  has  been  found.  The  golden  maize  ripening 
in  the  meagre  plantations  of  the  natives  was  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
wealth  of  which  they  had  dreamed,  for  it  furnished  them  with  palatable 
food.  Berries  and  amber  grapes  hanging  plentifully  on  the  wild  vines 
refreshed  them  on  the  weary  march,  and  persimmons  untouched  by  frost 
received  their  curses.  Noble  forest  trees  afforded  them  grateful  shade 
from  the  noonday  sun,  and  numerous  streams  quenched  the  thirst  of  man 
and  beast.  But  all  these  tokens  of  a  productive  soil,  and  a  land  admi- 
rably adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  civilized  man,  were  held  of  little 
account.  The  object  of  their  search,  a  land  of  gold  and  barbarian  splen- 
dor, was  still  before  them,  in  the  mysterious  depths  of  an  unexplored 
continent. 

In  October,  the  Spaniards  had  reached  what  is  now  the  south-western 
part  of  Alabama,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  river  of  that  name  they  came 
to  a  considerable  Indian  town.  It  was  composed  of  slightly  built  houses 
of  bark,  but  to  the  adventurers  who  had  slept  so  long  in  the  woods  and 
fields,  its  shelter  was  not  unattractive.  They  entered  the  town  without 
any  parley,  and  sought  to  take  possession  of  the  Indian  dwellings  without 
condescending  to  ask  permission.  The  natives  were  indignant  at  the 
license  in  which  the  invaders  indulged,  and  arose  en  masse  to  resist  them. 


20  EXPEDITION  OF  DE  SO  TO. 

A  fearful  battle  ensued.  The  Indians  fought  desperately  in  defence  of 
their  homes,  but  they  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  superior  weapons  of 
the  Spaniards,  and  especially  with  the  cavalry,  whose  horses  and  whose 
fiery  charge  inspired  a  mortal  dread.  They  were  slaughtered  on  every 
side,  men,  women,  and  children  suffering  alike  at  the  hands  of  the  vin- 
dictive "  Christians."  The  houses  were  fired,  and  the  flames  spread 
rapidly  through  the  closely-built  town,  consuming  not  a  few  of  the  un- 
fortunate inmates.  Upwards  of  two  thousand  of  the  Indians  were  killed, 
and  only  a  small  remnant  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  escaped  to  the 
neighboring  forest.  Though  the  contest  was  extremely  unequal,  the 
Spaniards  did  not  escape  without  severe  loss.  About  twenty  of  them 
were  killed,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  wounded;  a  dozen  horses  were  slain, 
and  many  others  were  more  or  less  disabled;  while  a  large  part  of  the 
luggage  of  the  invaders,  which  had  been  brought  into  the  town,  was 
consumed  in  the  flames. 

Besides  the  losses  experienced  in  this  battle,  De  Soto's  force  had  pre- 
viously been  diminished  by  sickness  and  the  hardships  of  the  campaign. 
Here  and  there  along  the  devious  course  of  his  march,  rude  crosses 
marked  the  graves  where'  his  followers  had  buried  their  comrades  who 
had  fallen  by  the  way.  Many  were  now  suffering  from  wounds,  others 
were  sick,  and  a  large  number  were  dispirited.  Clothing  and  supplies 
had  been  burned,  and  another  winter  was  approaching.  Under  such 
circumstances  most  leaders  would  have  moved  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Pensacola,  which  was  within  easy  march,  or  would  at  least  have  sent  a 
party  thither,  to  obtain  the  supplies  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  sent 
there  from  Cuba.  But  De  Soto  was  unwilling  to  communicate  with  his 
countrymen  until  he  could  boast  of  success  in  some  degree  commensurate 
with  his  promises.  He  would  not  permit  the  news  of  his  failure  to  be 
carried  to  Cuba  and  Spain ;  his  haughty  spirit  could  not  brook  the  idea 
of  the  humiliation  and  ridicule  which  would  attach  to  his  name  were  such 
failure  known.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  direct  his  march  again  into 
the  interior,  still  vainly  hoping  that  at  last  his  dreams  might  be  realized. 

With  his  weakened  force,  and  his  now  slender  supplies,  he  marched 
to  the  north,  living  in  part  upon  the  maize  which  was  found  growing 
wild,  or  here  and  there  in  the  poorly  cultivated  fields  of  the  natives. 
Winter  had  already  come  when  he  reached  a  village  of  the  Chickasaws, 
in  the  northern  part  of  what  is  now  Mississippi.  The  Indians  were  away 


77V  AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE.  21 

on  one  of  their  hunting  expeditions,  and  having  carried  all  their  limited 
stock  of  household  goods  with  them,  the  village  seemed  utterly  aban- 
doned. It  consisted  of  small  houses,  covered  with  bark,  and  thatched 
with  grass  and  stalks  of  maize,  clustered  with  little  regard  to  order  about 
a  larger  building,  of  like  construction,  in  which  the  councils  of  the  tribe 
were  held.  Here  De  Soto  determined  to  go  into  winter  quarters.  With 
his  higher  officers  and  the  priests  he  took  possession  of  the  council-house, 
and  his  men  were  closely  quartered  in  the  smaller  wigwams,  glad  enough 
to  secure  even  such  poor  shelter  from  the  cold  and  storms.  Snow  fell, 
and  though  the  winter  was  much  milder  than  in  more  northern  regions, 
to  the  Spaniards  it  seemed  severe,  and  their  sufferings  were  rendered 
more  acute  by  the  long  and  weary  marches  they  had  made,  and  the  ex- 
hausting toil  they  had  endured.  But  the  forest  furnished  them  with 
leaves  for  beds,  and  abundant  fuel  for  fires.  They  gathered  the  maize, 
that  was  still  standing  in  the  fields  awaiting  the  return  of  the  Indians,  and 
they  killed  such  little  game  as  the  woods  afforded,  to  supplement  their 
rapidly  decreasing  stores.  Sickness  prevailed,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  men,  now  thoroughly  dispirited,  no  longer  hoped  to  find  the  opulent 
towns  in  which,  at  the  outset,  they  had  expected  to  revel  after  a  few 
days'  march. 

At  last  the  wandering  tribe  returned,  to  find  their  homes  occupied 
by  a  strange  race.  They  were  indignant,  but  they  stood  in  awe  of 
strangers  who  seemed  to  them  to  be  of  supernatural  origin,  and  they 
forbore  to  resent  the  invasion,  seeking  shelter  with  a  kindred  tribe. 
When  their  chief  and  some  of  his  warriors  ventured  to  communicate 
with  the  Spaniards,  De  Soto,  as  usual,  sought  from  them  information 
concerning  the  rich  country  which  he  still  believed  or  hoped  must  be 
within  his  reach.  But  they  were  as  ignorant  as  those  whom  he  had 
previously  questioned.  They  exhibited  no  friendly  disposition,  but 
watched  with  jealous  eyes  the  conduct  of  the  invaders,  whom  they  at 
length  found  to  be  only  mortals. 

As  spring  approached,  De  Soto,  impatient  to  continue  his  fruitless 
search,  prepared  to  resume  his  march.  As  he  had  done  with  other 
tribes,  he  demanded  of  the  Chickasaw  chief  that  he  should  furnish  men 
to  carry  the  supplies.  Wholly  ignorant  of  the  character  and  customs 
of  these  independent  savages,  he  sought  to  treat  them  as  Pizarro  had 
treated  the  more  gentle  and  timid  Peruvians.  But  this  haughty  demand, 


22  EXPEDITION   OF  DE   SO  TO. 

added  to  the  invasion  of  their  homes,  was  too  much  for  the  incensed 
natives.  They  mustered  their  warriors,  not  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the 
Spaniards,  but  to  make  a  sudden  and  unexpected  attack  upon  them. 

Stealthily  approaching  under  the  shades  of  night,  they  set  fire  to 
the  combustible  houses  on  every  side,  and  with  the  fearful  war-whoop 
startled  the  slumbering  Spaniards,  who  woke  to  find  themselves  sur- 
rounded by  flames.  Escaping  as  best  they  could,  many  of  them  with 
scanty  clothing  and  without  weapons,  the  surprised  invaders  were  ex- 
posed to  the  attack  of  the  savages,  and  might  have  suffered  fearful  loss 
had  the  latter  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  deal  an  effective 
blow.  The  Indians,  however,  who  were  few  in  number,  were  satisfied 
with  destroying  the  shelter  of  their  foes,  and  were  afraid  of  those 
unknown  monsters,  the  horses,  which,  escaping  from  the  flames,  dashed 
wildly  through  the  forest;  after  sending  a  few  arrows  into  the  midst  of 
the  confused  Spaniards,  they  withdrew.  Had  they  been  more  numerous, 
and  made  a  determined  attack  on  the  invaders,  they  might  have  anni- 
hilated them. 

Though  they  were  spared  the  blows  of  the  tomahawk  and  war-club, 
the  Spaniards  suffered  severely.  Eleven  of  their  number  perished  in  the 
flames,  and  many  others  were  severely  burned;  numbers  of  their  horses 
and  of  their  swine  were  also  burned;  much  of  their  clothing  was 
destroyed,  and  their  arms  rendered  useless;  and  scarcely  any  shelter 
was  left  even  for  the  naked  and  wounded.  Morning  found  them  almost 
defenceless  and  wholly  demoralized.  But  the  indomitable  will  which 
had  conducted  them  through  their  long  and  laborious  march  into  this 
unexplored  wilderness  was  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  was  at  once 
exerted  to  restore  order  and  efficiency  to  the  demoralized  force.  The 
damaged  arms  were  at  once  collected,  forges  erected,  and  swords  and 
spear-heads  newly  tempered  and  sharpened.  Garments  and  mats  were 
woven  from  the  bark  of  trees,  grass,  and  trailing  moss,  and  many  of  the 
Spaniards  soon  appeared  in  motley  array  scarcely  superior  to  that  of  the 
natives.  Stout  lances  were  fashioned  from  the  excellent  timber  which 
the  forest  afforded,  and  in  a  few  days  De  Soto's  forces  were  again  pre- 
pared for  resistance.  Meanwhile  the  Indians  had  been  gathering  the 
scattered  warriors  of  their  tribe,  and  at  last  attempted  to  surprise  their 
enemies ;  but  they  found  the  Spaniards  ready,  and  they  were  too  wary 
to  risk  an  open  battle. 


III. 


EXPEDITION  OF   DE  SOTO.-THE   MISSISSIPPI. 
DEATH   OF   DE  SOTO. 


MONTH  later,  April,  1541,  found  De  Soto  and  his  follow- 
ers, who  had  moved  westward  from  their  winter  quar- 
ters, at  an  Indian  village  in  the  western  part  of  Mississippi. 
With  supplies  greatly  reduced  by  the  fire,  they  began  to 
experience  privation  in  addition  to  the  severe  toil  of  the 
march,  and  they  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  what  they  could  obtain 
from  the  limited  stores  of  the  natives.  But  now,  as  always,  their  most 
anxious  inquiry  was  for  the  region  of  gold  and  populous  towns,  and  as 
usual  they  demanded  guides  who  should  lead  them  towards  that  favored 
country.  Here,  however,  as  before,  the  natives  knew  nothing  of  the 
fabled  land.  The  happy  hunting-grounds  of  their  departed  warriors 
they  believed  lay  far  to  the  west,  and  thither  they  were  quite  willing  the 
invaders  should  hasten  if  they  could  but  be  rid  of  them.  Guides  were 
accordingly  ready  to  conduct  the  wanderers  to  the  verge  of  the  territory 
occupied  by  this  tribe,  and  under  their  lead  De  Soto  discovered,  not 
the  object  of  his  ambition,  but  the  great  river  of  the  west,  the  mighty 
Mississippi! 

The  first  European  who  had  looked  upon  the  "  Father  of  Waters," 
De  Soto  stood  upon  a  bluff  and  gazed  in  wonder  at  the  majestic  river 
that  told  how  vast  was  the  continent  which  he  had  claimed  for  the 
dominion  of  his  sovereign.  Had  he  been  an  explorer,  and  not  an 
ambitious  adventurer  in  pursuit  of  conquest  and  plunder,  the  discovery 
would  have  filled  him  with  proud  satisfaction.  Now  it  was  only  a  broad 

23 


24 


EXPEDITION   OF  DE   SO  TO. 


river  which  impeded  his  progress,  and  separated  him  from  his  anticipated 
success.  As  it  was  an  obstacle  to  overcome,  so  it  had  the  effect  to 
stimulate  the  hopes  of  De  Soto  and  his  followers.  Surely,  beyond  this 
great  river  lay  the  country  of  which  they  were  in  search.  This  was  the 
barrier  which  separated  the  poor  and  ignorant  savages  whom  they  had 
met  from  a  more  refined  race  that  knew  the  value  of  gold,  and  had  vast 
treasures  in  store  ready  for  them  to  seize. 

While  the  adventurers  tarried  a  few  days  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
uncertain  how  they  should  cross,  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  strange 
force  was  carried  across  the  waters,  and  spread  among  the  tribes  on  the 
other  side.  They  gathered  in  large  numbers,  and  in  a  fleet  of  canoes 
came  sailing  down  the  river  to  the  bluff  on  which  the  Spaniards  were 
encamped. 

To  the  strangers  the  approach  of  the  natives  was  a  splendid  sight. 
Line  after  line,  in  regular  order,  came  the  canoes  bearing  warriors  gayly 
decorated  with  paint  and  feathers,  and  chiefs,  still  more  gaudily  arrayed, 
sitting  under  gorgeous  awnings.  It  was  the  first  display  of  order  and 
pomp  that  the  invaders  had  witnessed,  and  they  believed,  as  they  saw 
the  gallant  array,  that  the  people  whose  possessions  they  coveted  were 
at  last  discovered. 

The  Indians  approached  the  shore  cautiously,  the  warriors  grasping 
their  bows  and  arrows,  ready  to  resent  any  sign  of  hostility  which  the 
Spaniards  might  exhibit.  But  wonder  and  curiosity  got  the  better  of 
their  caution  and  their  fears,  and  they  landed  to  look  upon  the  strangers 
whom  they  believed  to  be  "  children  of  the  sun."  The  invaders  treated 
them  with  the  same  arrogance  they  had  displayed  towards  all  the  natives, 
and  came  near  precipitating  a  fight;  but  the  Indians  were  impressed 
with  their  superiority,  and  submitted  to  indignities  which  they  would  not 
have  borne  if  offered  by  men  of  their  own  race.  They  brought  fish  and 
maize,  and  such  other  food  as  their  limited  resources  afforded,  and  the 
Spaniards,  though  expressing  small  thanks,  were  ready  enough  to  accept 
even  the  simplest  offerings  of  this  kind. 

De  Soto  was  eager  to  cross  the  river  and  penetrate  the  country  be- 
yond, and  he  demanded  of  the  natives  canoes  to  transport  his  forces. 
The  canoes,  however,  were  small,  and  capable  of  carrying  only  a  few  men 
each  at  best.  The  horses  could  not  swim  so  great  a  distance  and  against 


PROGRESS    TO   MISSISSIPPI.  25 

so  strong  a  current,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  construct  barges  to 
transport  them.  This  labor  occupied  several  weeks,  but  at  last  a  sufficient 
number,  capable  of  bearing  three  horses  each,  were  built,  and  with 
canoes  and  barges  the  adventurers  crossed  to  the  western  bank. 

And  now,  with  hopes  revived,  they  commenced  anew  the  search 
for  the  favored  country  which  was  the  object  of  the  expedition.  They 
moved  northward  through  a  vast  alluvial  region,  clothed  with  a  mag- 
nificent vegetation,  and  abounding  in  morasses  and  bayous,  which  made 
the  march  a  difficult  and  toilsome  one.  Surmounting  these  obstacles, 
they  at  last  reached  a  more  elevated  country,  and  extended  their  wan- 
derings to  the  southern  part  of  Missouri.  The  natives  with  whom  they 
met  were  mostly  of  a  peaceful  character,  who  lived  in  permanent  vil- 
lages, and  depended  for  their  subsistence  upon  a  rude  cultivation  of 
the  soil.  They  regarded  the  Spaniards  as  a  superior  race,  and  believed 
they  were  the  "children  of  the  sun;"  a  belief  which  the  Spaniards 
encouraged.  Through  all  this  region  the  invaders  found  no  want  of 
subsistence  so  long  as  the  natives  could  furnish  supplies,  and  these 
were  taken  without  regard  to  the  rights  or  necessities  of  the  owners. 
Unwarlike,  and  conscious  of  the  superiority  of  the  strangers,  the  Indians 
offered  no  resistance.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  anxious  to  propitiate 
the  Spaniards,  and,  believing  in  their  supernatural  origin,  brought  the 
sick  and  the  blind  to  be  healed.  To  such  humble  and  reverent  en- 
treaties, however,  the  Spaniards  replied  with  more  of  arrogance  than 
humility,  by  bidding  them  "  pray  only  to  God." 

In  a  favorable  locality  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  at  the  north- 
ern limit  of  their  march,  the  Spaniards  encamped  for  more  than  a 
month.  The  river,  the  forest,  and  the  stores  of  the  natives  furnished 
them  with  subsistence,  and  unmolested  by  hostile  savages  they  lived  a 
life  of  comparative  ease  and  perhaps  of  pleasure.  Far  away  from  their 
country  and  civilized  life,  in  the  heart  of  an  unexplored  continent,  they 
indulged  in  their  favorite  game  of  cards  and  such  other  amusements  as 
their  gypsy  life  suggested.  They  hunted  in  the  forest,  and  fished  on 
the  river,  and  gathered  wild  fruits  on  the  sunny  slopes.  They  lay  at 
ease  in  the  shadow  of  the  thick  foliage,  and  forgetting  for  a  time  the 
disappointments  of  their  fruitless  search,  they  jested  over  the  toils  and 
dangers  through  which  they  had  passed.  And  daily  the  priests  said 

NO.  i.  4 


2g  EXPEDITION  OF  DE   SO  TO. 

mass  and  observed  the  various  ceremonials  of  the  church  with  all  the 
formality  and  pomp  that  their  brethren  practised  in  the  heart  of  Spain. 

De  Soto  learned  from  the  natives  that  the  country  farther  north  was 
composed  of  barren  lands  and  open  prairie,  ranged  over  by  herds  of 
buffalo,  and  inhabited  only  by  wandering  tribes  of  hunters,  and  experi- 
ence had  taught  him  that  he  need  not  seek  his  El  Dorado  in  such  a 
region.  He  therefore  moved  to  the  west  until  he  reached  a  low  range 
of  mountains.  But  in  this  direction,  also,  he  found  no  indications  that 
such  a  thing  as  gold  was  known.  He  passed  through  many  Indian 
settlements,  but  they  were  small  villages  of  the  rudest  huts,  and  the 
only  wealth  of  the  inhabitants  "was  their  limited  stock  of  maize  and  a 
few  skins  and  curiously  wrought  garments  of  feathers.  Then  the  march 
was  directed  towards  the  south,  and  when  winter  came,  the  wander- 
ers, again  dispirited,  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hot  springs  of  Arkan- 
sas, on  the  head  waters  of  the  River  Washita,  where  they  tarried  till 
spring. 

As  their  prospects  of  success  had  diminished,  the  Spaniards  added 
to  the  arrogance  with  which  they  had  always  treated  the  Indians  vin- 
dictive and  wanton  cruelty.  They  cut  off  the  hands  of  many  of  the 
natives  on  the  most  frivolous  pretences,  and  without  restraint  reckless 
young  adventurers  would  quarrel  with  and  then  maim  or  kill  them  in 
order  to  boast  of  their  prowess.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Spaniards  what 
rights  had  these  miserable  heathen  that  Christian  cavaliers  should 
respect?  Such  treatment  produced  its  legitimate  fruit.  The  Indians 
became  more  distrustful  and  wary,  and  but  for  their  fears  would  have 
manifested  open  hostility.  They  attempted  to  conceal  their  small  stores 
of  food,  and  besides  being  robbed,  were  fearfully  punished  for  the 
offence.  Guides  sought  to  conduct  them  away  from  the  villages  of 
their  friends,  and  upon  discovery  of  the  treachery,  if  not  upon  mere 
suspicion,  they  would  be  bound  and  thrown  to  the  bloodhounds. 

The  stay  at  their  winter  quarters  in  Arkansas  was  the  last  season  of 
rest  for  the  invaders,  but  it  was  far  different  from  their  summer  sojourn 
on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  The  weary  months  were  not  passed  in 
recreation.  They  experienced  privations  in  spite  of  robbing  the  natives 
of  their  subsistence.  Many  were  worn  out  by  fatigue,  or  prostrated  by 
sickness,  and  their  numbers  now  were  more  frequently  reduced  by  death. 


DEATH  OF  DE   SO  TO.  2>J 

They  were  disheartened;  all  hopes  of  the  success  of  their  enterprise 
were  abandoned,  except  by  a  few  over-sanguine  spirits,  who  hoped 
without  reason.  De  Soto  himself  was  despondent.  He  had  traversed 
vast  distances  through  the  country  which  was  to  be  his  royal  province, 
but  nowhere  had  he  found  the  slightest  token  of  that  wealth  which  he 
coveted,  and  which  he  had  so  proudly  promised,  and  he  was  now  no 
nearer  the  goal  of  his  ambition  than  when  he  landed  on  the  shores  of 
Florida.  His  followers  were  decreasing  in  numbers,  and  the  natives 
were  becoming  more  hostile.  In  spite  of  the  disgrace  of  failure  he 
thought  once  more  of  home,  and  he  determined  to  follow  the  river,  of 
whose  course  and  outlet  he  knew  nothing,  to  the  sea. 

In  the  early  spring  the  Spaniards  left  their  winter  quarters  and  fol- 
lowed the  course  of  the  Washita  River  south.  The  march  was  a  long 
and  laborious  one,  through  thick  forests  and  dangerous  swamps,  and  was 
often  obstructed  by  bayous,  where  alligators  showed  their  hideous  forms. 
Reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River,  De  Soto  inquired  the  distance  to 
the  sea,  but  he  could  learn  nothing  save  that  a  vast,  uninhabited,  and 
impenetrable  country  lay  at  the  south.  The  haughty  leader  was  dis- 
mayed. His  men,  overcome  by  the  toils  of  the  march  and  the  malaria 
of  the  swamps,  were  dying  around  him,  and  he  had  lost  many  horses  in 
the  morasses.  His  force  was  daily  becoming  weaker,  while  the  Indians, 
seeing  that  the  strangers  were  mortal,  no  longer  regarded  them  as  chil- 
dren of  the  sun,  and  manifested  open  hostility.  Reports  of  the  cruelty 
of  the  Spaniards  had  preceded  them,  and  the  tribes  whom  they  now  met 
were  not  disposed  to  submit  to  robbery  and  outrage  without  resistance, 
and  when  they  still  claimed  a  supernatural  origin,  their  pretensions  were 
met  with  derision.  w  If  you  are  children  of  the  sun,"  said  one  of  the 
chiefs,  "  dry  up  the  river,  and  I  will  believe  you." 

Anxious  and  despondent,  and  worn  out  with  the  fatigues  of  his 
unsuccessful  journey,  De  Soto  could  no  longer  bear  up  against  disease. 
Hope  was  gone  and  reputation  lost;  his  courage  deserted  him,  and  his 
haughty  will  surrendered  at  last  to  circumstances.  He  took  to  his  mis- 
erable couch  under  an  attack  of  malignant  fever,  for  which  the  skill  of 
the  camp  had  no  remedy.  Conscious  that  death  was  near,  he  called  his 
officers  about  him,  and  at  their  request  named  his  successor;  and  then  the 
priests  administered  the  extreme  rites  of  the  church,  with  whatever  con- 


2g  EXPEDITION  OF  DE  SO  TO, 

solation  that  ceremony  might  bring  to  his  disappointed  spirit  ere  it  fled. 
And  thus,  after  three  years  of  fruitless  toil  to  realize  his  unbounded  ex- 
pectations, and  redeem  his  ambitious  promises,  died  De  Soto,  and  with 
him  perished  the  dream  of  an  El  Dorado  within  the  shores  of  Florida.* 

Well  might  the  Spaniards  grieve  for  the  loss  of  their  commander, 
for  it  was  his  skill  and  energy  that  had  carried  them  through  the  many 
difficulties  of  their  long  journey.  Having  perfect  confidence  in  him, 
they  had  willingly  followed  wherever  he  chose  to  lead;  to  be  without 
him  now,  when  the  difficulties  and  dangers  were  greater  than  ever,  added 
a  sense  of  general  bereavement  to  personal  grief  for  one  beloved  and 
honored.  Fearful  that  so  serious  a  loss  should  become  known  to  the 
Indians,  and  encourage  them  to  active  and  sudden  hostilities,  they  deter- 
mined to  keep  his  death  a  secret,  and,  in  the  darkness  of  night,  to  sink 
his  remains  in  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 

At  midnight,  as  the  waning  moon  just  rose  above  the  boundless  forest, 
when  deep  silence  brooded  over  the  thick  woods  and  the  dark  river, 
broken  only  by  the  hoot  of  the  owl  and  the  cry  of  the  night-heron,  a 
solemn  procession  moved  slowly  through  the  camp  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
down  the  winding  pathway  to  the  shore.  It  was  headed  by  the  priests, 
with  crucifix  and  candles,  chanting  lowly  a  requiem  for  the  dead.  After 
them  came  the  nobles  of  the  expedition,  bearing  the  body  of  their  late 
leader,  wrapped  closely  in  his  mantle,  and  followed  by  the  whole  force 
of  the  adventurers,  in  long  array,  sincerely  mourning  their  chief,  whom 
they  had  so  faithfully  served,  and  in  whose  iron  will  they  had  implicitly 
trusted.  At  the  river  side,  the  head  of  the  procession  embarked  in  canoes 
and  barges,  with  their  sacred  burden,  and,  while  the  larger  number  stood 
in  silence  on  the  shore,  paddled  slowly  out  upon  the  river,  the  priests 
still  chanting  their  solemn  requiem.  Midway  between  the  shores  they 
paused,  and,  with  brief  rites,  the  body  of  De  Soto  was  committed  to  the 
waters,  and  sank  to  its  resting-place  in  the  bed  of  the  great  river  which 
he  had  discovered.  The  procession  of  canoes  returned  to  the  shore, 
and  the  despondent  wanderers  to  their  camp. 

Though,  at  divers  places  in  its  immense  length,  during  the  centuries 
the  Mississippi  had  flowed  on  its  winding  course  to  the  sea,  doubtless 
many  a  solemn  procession  had  passed  over  its  waters,  and  many  a  mystic 

*  The  name  of  Florida  was  then  given  to  the  country  indefinitely,  north  and  inland. 


I  • 


EFFORTS   TO  RETURN.  2O/ 

rite  had  been  performed  upon  its  banks,  never  before  had  it  borne  a 
procession  like  this,  or  witnessed  the  sacred  rites  of  Christian  burial, 
and  heard  the  chant  of  Christian  requiem.  And  the  first  time  these 
ceremonies  of  a  new  and  better  religion  were  here  performed,  was  when 
the  first  Christian  who  had  looked  upon  its  waters  was  buried  beneath 
them. 

With  the  death  of  De  Soto  the  romantic  interest  of  this  unfortunate 
expedition  ends.  There  was  no  longer  any  hope  of  discovering  and 
occupying  a  country  abounding  in  gold,  or  of  the  conquest  of  a  people 
who  possessed  immense  treasures.  The  avarice  which  had  at  first  im- 
pelled the  adventurers  was  overshadowed  by  the  desire  to  return  to 
country  and  friends;  the  ambition,  indomitable  will,  and  energy  which 
had  led  them  were  gone.  Their  thought  now  was,  in  what  manner  they 
might  escape  from  this  wilderness  and  the  perils  which  surrounded 
them,  and  end  the  fruitless  toil  which  for  three  long  years  they  had 
endured.  De  Soto's  successor,  Moscoso,  was  of  the  same  mind  as  his 
followers,  and  desired  to  be  in  a  country  where  he  might  enjoy  rest. 

Ignorant  of  the  geography  of  the  country,  the  Spaniards  sought  at 
first  to  reach  Mexico  by  land,  and  they  again  moved  into  the  wilderness 
west  of  the  Mississippi;  but,  under  the  lead  of  treacherous  guides,  they 
found  themselves  involved  in  difficulties  more  formidable  than  any  they 
had  yet  experienced.  Disheartened,  they  returned  by  a  like  difficult  and 
exhausting  march  to  the  great  river,  with  the  purpose  of  following  its 
course  to  the  sea.  Fatigue  and  climate  continually  reduced  their  num- 
bers, and  many  of  the  Indians  whom  they  had  enslaved  and  doomed  to 
the  severest  labors  died  on  the  march.  Once  more  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  they  determined  to  construct  vessels,  and  sailing  with  its  cur- 
rent to  the  sea,  attempt  to  reach  New  Spain.  This  was  no  easy  task 
with  the  slender  means  they  possessed,  but  it  seemed  now  to  be  their 
only  chance  of  escape,  and  they  bravely  went  to  work.  With  great 
difficulty  they  hewed  the  timber  and  sawed  the  planks;  they  gathered  all 
the  iron  to  be  found  in  the  camp,  —  all  useless  arms  and  armor,  and 
even  the  smallest  scraps,  and  to  add  to  the  small  supply  struck  off  the 
fetters  of  their  captives,  —  and  erecting  a  forge,  converted  it  into  nails. 
After  months  of  -labor  they  constructed  several  small  vessels,  without 
decks  and  exceedingly  frail,  which  were  capable  of  bearing  their  di- 


30  EXPEDITION   OF  DE   SO  TO. 

minished  numbers.  Then  they  killed  their  few  remaining  swine  and 
their  horses  in  order  to  provision  their  "  ships,"  and  with  no  little  difficulty 
made  casks  capable  of  holding  water.  At  last,  more  than  a  year  after  the 
death  of  De  Soto,  during  which  they  had  experienced  greater  hardships 
than  in  all  the  previous  time,  they  embarked  and  sailed  down  the  Missis- 
sippi to  its  mouth;  thence  following  the  coast,  after  a  long  and  tedious 
voyage  and  much  suffering,  they  reached  a  Spanish  settlement  in  Mexico. 
They  had  landed  in  Florida  more  than  six  hundred  strong,  they  returned 
to  their  countrymen  with  scarcely  half  that  number,  and  the  author, 
leader,  and  controlling  spirit  of  the  expedition,  who  was  to  them  more 
than  numbers,  was  among  the  lost. 

The  story  of  De  Soto's  long  and  fruitless  search,  his  melancholy  death, 
and  the  utter  failure  of  the  expedition,  of  the  success  of  which  such 
extraordinary  expectations  had  been  indulged,  put  an  end  to  Spanish 
hopes  of  rinding  in  Florida  an  empire  which  should  surpass  that  of  the 
Montezumas.  The  next  attempt  to  secure  the  dominion  of  the  country 
for  the  Spanish  crown  was  the  result  of  religious  enthusiasm,  and  was  an 
effort  not  to  conquer,  but  to  convert  the  natives.  It  met,  however,  with 
no  better  success  than  the  previous  expeditions,  for  the  natives,  remem- 
bering the  former  cruelties  of  the  Spaniards  visited  upon  these  men  who 
came  with  the  olive-branch  of  peace  a  fearful  retribution  for  the  misdeeds 
of  their  countrymen. 


IV. 


HUGUENOT    SETTLEMENT    IN    FLORIDA. 


:WENTY  years  after  the  failure  of  De  Soto's  expedition, 
the  French,  whose  navigators  had  explored  the  coast 
of  America  from  Florida  to  Newfoundland,  undertook 
to  assert  their  claims  to  a  share  in  the  newly-discov- 
ered continent;  not,  however,  so  much  in  the  interest 
of  the  French  crown,  and  to  promote  the  glory  of 
France,  as  to  secure  a  refuge  for  French  Protestants  from  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  Catholics  at  home.  Admiral  De  Coligny,  an  earnest 
Protestant,  and  a  man  of  great  influence,  originated  and  cherished  the 
idea  of  establishing  such  a  refuge,  and  under  his  auspices  an  expedi- 
tion was  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  planting  a  colony  in  Brazil.  That 
attempt  proving  a  failure,  an  expedition  was  subsequently  sent  under 
Ribaut,  an  experienced  navigator,  to  examine  the  coast  of  Florida,  and 
select  a  site  for  a  Huguenot  settlement.  Reaching  the  River  St.  Johns, 
where  he  tarried  for  a  time  exploring  the  neighboring  region,  and  hold- 
ing friendly  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  Ribaut  then  sailed  along  the 
coast  till  he  reached  the  spacious  harbor  which  he  named  Port  Royal, 
and  which  still  bears  that  name,  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  South 
Carolina.  Delighted  with  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  country  and 
its  agreeable  climate,  and  received  with  friendliness  by  the  natives,  the 
explorers  determined  to  establish  a  settlement  here,  and  a  small  garri- 
son was  left  to  erect  a  fort  and  maintain  the  claim  of  the  French  to 
the  country,  while  the  ships  returned  to  France  for  colonists  and 
supplies. 

The  garrison  thus  left  was  composed  of  soldiers  and  sailors  with  a 


32  HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENT  IN  FLORIDA.      .-' 

few  gentlemen  volunteers,  the  whole  numbering  about  thirty.  Though 
the  expedition  had  been  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  finding  a  site  for  a 
colony  which  might  be  a  refuge  for  persecuted  Protestants,  and  the  more 
prominent  men  were  undoubtedly  earnest  and  sincere  Calvinists,  the 
religious  purpose  of  the  expedition  was  of  little  account  to  most  of  the 
men  composing  the  garrison.  With  all  other  Europeans,  they  believed 
the  country  was  rich  in  the  precious  metals,  and  they  had  come  across  the 
sea,  not  to  found  a  Protestant  colony,  but  to  find  gold.  But  even  this  was 
a  task  for  the  future,  and  their  present  desire  was  to  lead  a  free  and  easy 
life  of  adventure  among  the  Indians.  They  visited  all  the  neighboring 
tribes,  and  as  from  the  first  the  French  had  always  treated  the  natives 
well,  they  were  received  in  a  friendly  manner,  and  feasted  with  all  the 
bounty  that  an  Indian  village  could  afford.  After  this  season  of  feasting 
they  returned  to  the  fort,  where  they  soon  were  obliged  to  fast.  They 
were  entirely  dependent  for  their  food  on  the  Indians,  who  supplied  them 
liberally  so  long  as  their  limited  stores  lasted.  Having  exhausted  the 
supplies,  and  perhaps  the  patience,  of  the  nearest  tribes,  they  sought  help 
from  chiefs  farther  south,  and  obtained  a  liberal  supply  of  maize  and 
beans,  with  the  assurance  that  they  should  not  want  so  long  as  the  corn- 
fields yielded  their  harvest. 

As  the  novelty  of  their  adventures  wore  off,  and  they  began  to  feel 
their  helpless  condition,  discontent,  insubordination,  and  quarrels  ensued. 
The  commander  became  arrogant,  harsh,  and  cruel,  and  subjected  some 
of  those  who  opposed  his  will  to  the  severest  punishment,  —  hanging 
one  and  banishing  another  to  an  island  where  he  was  left  to  starve. 
Such  cruelty  and  constant  tyranny  could  not  be  endured  by  the  reck- 
less men  who  composed  the  garrison,  and  they  murdered  the  com- 
mander, and  chose  another  in  his  place.  While  the  affairs  of  the  fort 
now  moved  along  more  smoothly,  discontent  and  homesickness  were  by 
no  means  diminished  among  this  demoralized  band.  They  were  not 
settlers  in  this  new  land,  but  only  sojourners,  to  hold  possession  until  a 
permanent  colony  should  arrive.  Owing  to  the  dissensions  and  civil  war 
in  France,  Coligny  found  it  impossible  to  send  out  the  promised  colonists. 
Delay  seemed  to  them  neglect,  and  they  saw  no  way  of  escaping  from 
their  banishment  but  to  build  a  vessel  and  embark  for  their  native  land. 
Under  many  difficulties  they  accomplished  the  task  of  constructing  a 


ARRIVAL    Of   COLONISTS.  33 

small  vessel,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  natives  fitted  it  out.  With  scanty 
provisions  they  embarked,  and  gladly  bade  farewell  to  the  country  which 
had  at  first  seemed  to  them  a  Paradise,  and  to  the  Indians  who  had 
proved  such  invaluable  friends.  But  they  fled  to  greater  sufferings  than 
they  had  endured  on  the  land;  their  frail  bark  nearly  foundered  in  a  storm; 
their  provisions  gave  out,  and  through  all  the  terrors  of  famine  they  were 
at  last  reduced  to  cannibalism.  The  survivors  succeeded,  however,  in 
crossing  the  Atlantic,  and  were  finally  rescued  by  an  English  vessel. 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  this  attempt  to  found  a  colony,  De 
Coligny  did  not  abandon  his  cherished  purpose,  and  he  took  advantage 
of  a  fitful  peace  between  the  rival  factions  in  France  to  obtain  from  the 
king  vessels  and  means  for  another  expedition.  As  before,  he  intended 
to  establish  a  Protestant  colony,  and  to  afford  an  opportunity  to  Huguenots 
to  seek  a  home  in  the  new  world,  where  they  might  escape  the  turmoil 
of  civil  dissensions  and  the  persecution  of  bigots.  Though  nominally 
all  Huguenots,  and  some  of  them  zealous  Calvinists,  the  company  gath- 
ered for  this  new  expedition  was  composed,  to  a  large  extent,  of  men 
who  cared  little  for  its  religious  character,  —  Huguenot  gentlemen  in 
search  of  adventure,  paid  soldiers  whose  faith  was  of  little  account,  a  few 
hired  artisans,  and  traders  who  looked  for  chances  of  wealth  in  the  land 
of  gold.  The  commander  of  the  expedition  was  Rene  de  Laudonniere, 
a  man  of  noble  family,  an  excellent  sailor,  and  a  pious  Protestant. 

After  a  long  voyage  the  three  vessels  composing  the  squadron  arrived 
off  the  coast  of  Florida  in  June,  1564.  The  misfortunes  of  the  former 
colonists,  or  garrison,  induced  the  adventurers  to  seek  some  other  harbor 
than  that  of  Port  Royal,  and  they  therefore  sailed  for  the  River  St.  Johns, 
or  River  of  May,  as  it  was  called  by  Ribaut,  who  had  visited  it  before  leav- 
ing the  garrison  at  Port  Royal,  and  had  doubtless  given  a  pleasant  account 
of  its  shores  upon  his  return  to  France.  Landing  near  the  mouth  of  the 
River,  Laudonniere  found  the  column  of  stone  engraved  with  the  arms 
of  France  which  Ribaut  had  erected,  and  before  which  the  Indians  had 
heaped  maize  as  an  offering  to  an  unknown  god.  Here  he  was  met  by 
the  principal  chief  of  that  region  with  a  large  number  of  followers.  The 
Indians  welcomed  the  French  with  demonstrations  of  delight.  They 
believed,  as  all  the  natives  seem  to  have  believed  at  the  first  appear- 
ance of  white  men,  that  the  strangers  were  children  of  the  sun,  and  it 

NO.   i.  5 


34  HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENT  IN  FLORIDA. 

turned  out  that  the  gratification  of  the  chief  was  in  the  belief  that  he 
would  secure  the  aid  of  these  children  of  the  sun  against  his  enemies. 

About  five  miles  up  the  river,  above  a  bluff  which  was  the  highest 
eminence  in  the  region,  the  site  of  the  new  settlement  was  chosen.  The 
magnificent  vegetation  of  the  surrounding  country,  the  broad,  calm  river, 
whose  unexplored  course  might  lead  to  the  marvellous  cities  of  the  west, 
the  fruitful  soil  teeming  with  beautiful  flowers,  and  giving  promise  of 
abundant  harvests  in  the  Indian  fields,  all  seemed  to  combine  to  make 
this  a  most  convenient  as  well  as  attractive  spot  for  settlement.  The 
work  of  fortifying  "was  at  once  commenced,  and  all,  noble  and  peasant, 
soldier  and  artisan,  joined  heartily  in  the  labor.  The  fort  was  triangular 
in  form,  and  consisted  of  a  palisade  of  timber  on  the  river  side,  and  a 
ditch  and  rampart  of  earth  on  the  other  two  sides.  Within  these  works 
buildings  for  the  officers  and  men  were  erected,  and  on  the  ramparts 
cannon  were  mounted.  Outside  the  defences  also  a  few  buildings  were 
erected,  and  since  the  natives  were  friendly  the  protection  of  the  fort  did 
not  seem  essential.  In  honor  of  the  king,  Charles  IX.,  the  work  was 
named  Fort  Carolina. 

The  construction  of  this  fort  at  once  alarmed  the  natives,  and  while 
it  was  in  progress  they  appeared  in  considerable  numbers,  and  in  a 
somewhat  threatening  manner.  But  a  council  followed,  "with  all  the 
ceremonial  used  by  the  natives  on  such  occasions.  Communication 
between  the  French  and  the  natives  was  carried  on  chiefly  by  signs, 
and  in  this  way  the  cunning  chief,  by  professions  of  friendship,  and  offer- 
ing supplies,  obtained  from  Laudonniere  a  promise  to  aid  him  in  a  war 
against  a  neighboring  tribe.  This  at  once  secured  the  greatest  good 
will  of  the  Indians,  and  by  command  of  their  chief  they  assisted  in  the 
construction  of  the  houses,  teaching  the  French  how  to  thatch  the  roofs 
with  palmetto  leaves.  The  French  commander  did  not  fulfil  his  unwise 
promise,  and  thus  incurred  the  displeasure  and  ill-will  of  a  chief  "whose 
friendship  might  have  proved  of  great  value  at  a  later  period. 

As  soon  as  the  fort  was  well  under  way,  the  French  sought  to  ex- 
plore the  interior  of  the  country,  expecting  to  discover  rich  treasures. 
One  expedition  went  up  the  river  under  Ottigny,  the  second  in  com- 
mand, and  these  were  the  first  white  men  to  explore  those  waters,  and 
note  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of  their  shores,  and  the  varied  animal  life 
which  everywhere  abounded. 


SCENERT  OF  FLORIDA. 


35 


Among  the  adventurers  was  an  artist,  Le  Moyne,  who  was  sent  with 
the  expedition  by  Coligny,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  back  authentic 
pictures  of  the  country  and  its  various  productions.  In  these  explora- 
tions Le  Moyne  looked  for  something  besides  gold,  and  found  ample 
employment  for  his  pencil.  The  placid  river,  with  its  low,  reedy  islands 
bright  with  flowers,  and  shores  here  shaded  by  the  varied  foliage  of  the 
magnificent  forest,  and  there  stretching  far  away  in  green  meadows  dotted 
with  groups  of  pine  and  palmetto;  broad  estuaries,  seen  through  a  vista 
in  the  overhanging  branches;  hummocks  crowned  with  the  magnolia  and 
the  live-oak,  their  branches  draped  with  the  long  Spanish  moss;  swamps, 
whose  borders  were  clothed  with  luxuriant  vines  and  shrubs,  and  whose 
mysterious  depths  were  shadowed  with  the  darkness  of  night  by  the  thick- 
growing  cypress;  the  hideous  alligator,  basking  in  the  sun  by  the  reedy 
shore;  the  scarcely  less  hideous  Indian,  in  his  paint  and  feathers;  the 
countless  birds,  with  rich  and  brilliant  plumage;  flowers  and  foliage  of 
rare  and  gorgeous  beauty;  —  all  these  scenes  and  objects,  strange  to  the 
artist's  eye,  afforded  subjects  for  many  a  picture.  But  it  was  fated  that 
he  should  paint  them  only  from  memory. 

Ottigny  reached  the  country  of  another  Indian  tribe,  and  opened  a 
friendly  intercourse  with  them,  although  they  were  enemies  of  the  first 
allies  of  the  French.  The  French  believed  that  the  gold  regions  lay 
in  the  direction  of  the  later  found  tribe,  and,  desiring  to  learn  more, 
another  expedition  was  sent  out  under  an  officer  named  Vasseur,  who 
penetrated  to  an  Indian  town,  where  he  was  received  with  great  distinc- 
tion. The  chief  of  this  town  informed  him,  by  signs  chiefly,  that  he 
was  one  of  numerous  vassals  of  the  great  chief  Outina,  whose  warriors 
wore  armor  of  gold  and  silver;  that  beyond  Outina's  nation  were  two 
mighty  chiefs  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  who  abounded  in  gold; 
that  if  the  French  would  join  Outina  in  a  war  against  these  powerful  en- 
emies, each  one  of  that  chief's  vassals  would  bring  to  them  a  heap  of  gold 
and  silver.  The  credulous  French  officer  believed  all  that  the  native's 
pantomime  and  his  own  imagination  suggested,  and  he  forthwith  prom- 
ised to  join  in  the  proposed  war. 

Meanwhile,  the  chief  with  whom  Laudonniere  had  first  formed  an 
alliance,  prepared  for  war  against  his  constant  enemy,  Outina,  and  asked 
the  French  for  the  promised  aid.  It  was  refused.  The  Indians,  indig- 


36  HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENT  IN  FLORIDA. 

nant  at  this  want  of  faith,  with  their  barbarous  ceremonies  and  war- 
dance  prepared  for  a  hostile  expedition  without  the  French.  After  their 
usual  manner,  they  made  a  raid  into  Outina's  realm,  and  brought  back 
a  number  of  prisoners  and  several  scalps. 

Being  desirous  of  keeping  on  friendly  terms  with  Outina,  through 
whose  dominions  he  believed  the  way  to  the  gold  region  lay,  Laudonniere 
demanded  the  release  of  two  of  these  captives,  intending  to  return  them 
to  their  tribe,  and  thus  secure  another  hold  upon  the  friendship  of  Outina. 
The  demand  was  at  first  refused,  but  being  peremptorily  repeated,  the 
chief  at  last  yielded;  but  he  never  forgot  the  indignity  put  upon  him,  or 
the  broken  faith  of  the  French.  The  captives  were  carried  back  to  their 
country  by  a  small  party  of  French,  who  were  received  with  demonstra- 
tions of  gratitude  and  friendship,  and  were  at  once  invited  to  join  in  a  con- 
templated raid  on  a  hostile  tribe.  In  this  raid  an  attack  was  made  on  an 
Indian  town,  when  the  French  arquebuses  produced  a  panic  among  the 
dusky  warriors.  One  of  the  leading  chiefs  was  killed  by  a  shot,  and  the  re- 
port seemed,  to  the  simple  savages,  like  thunder  from  the  clouds.  While 
they  were  thus  terrified  their  native  assailants  made  fearful  work,  and  after 
butchering  and  burning  to  their  satisfaction,  they  returned  triumphant. 

But  the  French  found  themselves  no  nearer  to  the  El  Dorado.  They 
had  seen  none  of  Outina's  warriors  in  golden  armor,  nor  had  the  heaps 
of  precious  metals,  which  his  vassal  chiefs  were  to  bring  in,  as  yet 
appeared. 

Laudonniere  and  a  few  of  his  principal  officers,  as  well  as  some  of 
those  in  humbler  positions,  were  men  of  intelligence  and  worth,  who  had 
engaged  in  this  enterprise  with  honorable  and  patriotic  motives,  and  a 
purpose  to  carry  out  the  views  of  Coligny.  But  in  the  company  were 
not  a  few  dissolute  and  reckless  men,  whose  bad  character  was  manifest 
as  soon  as  they  experienced  disappointment,  hardship,  and  want.  The 
toils  and  perils  of  hopeful  adventures  could  be  endured  without  a  mur- 
mur, but  a  dull,  monotonous  round  of  fruitless  labor,  and  increasing 
privation,  with  a  prospect  only  of  suffering  and  famine,  gave  rise  to 
discontent  that  soon  ripened  into  mutiny.  In  the  midst  of  the  discontent, 
one  of  the  adventurers  claimed  that  he  had  discovered  (by  magic, 
which  did  not  render  it  any  the  less  credible)  a  mine  of  gold,  far  up 
the  river,  and  which  would  make  them  all  rich,  but  that  the  commandant 


DISCONTENT  AND  MUTINY. 


37 


stood  in  the  way,  oppressing  and  starving  them.  Thereupon  a  plot  was 
formed  to  murder  Laudonniere,  and  one  of  his  intimate  friends  and  con- 
fidants was  concerned  in  it.  Fortunately,  the  several  plans  which  they 
conceived  for  effecting  the  murder,  in  some  way  miscarried,  and  the 
treacherous  confidant  fled  to  the  woods. 

The  next  movement  of  a  portion  of  the  malcontents  was  to  take 
two  pinnaces  and  go  on  a  piratical  excursion,  in  which  they  were  not 
successful;  but  being  obliged  to  put  into  Havana  to  escape  starvation, 
they  gave  information  to  the  authorities  of  the  existence  of  the  French 
fort  on  the  St.  Johns,  and  the  purpose  of  establishing  there  a  Hugue- 
not colony.  This  information  was  promptly  sent  to  Spain,  where  it 
was  confirmed  by  secret  messages  from  the  Spanish  faction  at  the 
French  court,  and  created  there  a  bigoted  hostility,  which  resulted  in  the 
most  atrocious  deed  in  the  history  of  the  new  world. 

These  pirates  did  not  take  all  the  bad  blood  with  them.  Privations, 
enforced  for  the  good  of  the  garrison,  grew  more  severe,  and  the  dis- 
content greater.  A  more  formidable  plot  was  entered  into,  in  which 
all  but  four  of  Laudonniere's  officers  joined  against  him.  They  de- 
manded permission  to  take  the  vessel,  which  had  remained  in  the  river 
since  their  first  arrival,  and  cruise  among  the  Antilles,  to  procure  pro- 
visions. The  commander  refused  this  demand,  but  endeavored  to  en- 
courage the  men,  by  assuring  them  that  a  more  vigorous  search  should 
soon  be  made  for  the  gold  mines,  and  that  the  small  vessels,  then  building, 
should  be  sent  to  procure  provisions.  The  mutineers  were  not  pacified 
by  these  promises,  and  while  Laudonniere  was  confined  to  his  bed  by 
illness,  they  rose  en  masse,  attempted  to  kill  one  of  his  faithful  officers, 
confined  the  others,  disarmed  the  loyal  soldiers,  and  seizing  the  sick 
commander  himself,  carried  him  fettered  out  of  the  fort,  and  on  board 
the  vessel  that  lay  in  the  river.  Here,  by  threatening  his  life,  they  com- 
pelled him  to  sign  a  commission,  drawn  up  by  one  of  the  mutineers, 
authorizing  the  piratical  cruise.  They  then  completed,  armed,  and 
provisioned  as  best  they  could,  the  two  small  vessels,  and  set  sail  on 
their  buccaneering  expedition.  Their  avowed  purpose  was  to  attack  a 
certain  Catholic  church  on  one  of  the  Spanish  islands,  and  plunder  it 
of  its  costly  ornaments.  They  were  Protestants,  and  they  intended 
to  make  the  attack  during  the  midnight  mass  at  Christmas,  in  order  that 


3  8  HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENT  IN  FLORIDA. 

they  might  punish  idolatry,  and  wreak  vengeance  on  the  enemies  of  their 
religion,  while  obtaining  rich  booty. 

After  the  departure  of  the  mutineers,  Laudonniere  was  released  from 
his  confinement  on  board  ship,  and  returning  to  the  fort,  reorganized  his 
diminished  garrison  with  new  and  trusty  officers  in  the  place  of  those 
who  had  proved  faithless.  The  mutineers  had  carried  off  provisions, 
but  there  were  not  so  many  to  feed,  and  there  were  fewer  discontented 
spirits  to  complain  of  being  starved.  Still,  they  were  on  short  allowance, 
and  were  glad  to  barter  with  the  Indians  for  food,  and  even  to  beg  for 
or  steal  it.  There  were  frequent  expeditions  into  the  interior,  in  order 
to  obtain  maize,  and  other  food,  such  as  the  natives  had  in  store;  and, 
from  the  recklessness  of  the  soldiers,  these  expeditions  did  much  to 
alienate  the  Indians,  upon  whose  good  will  they  were,  in  a  measure, 
dependent. 

The  winter  passed  without  any  incidents  of  much  moment,  after  the 
buccaneers  had  sailed,  till,  three  months  later,  a  remnant  of  them  re- 
turned. Towards  the  end  of  March  a  Spanish  brigantine  was  seen, 
anchored  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  In  one  of  the  small  vessels  which 
had  been  built  to  replace  those  carried  off  by  the  mutineers,  an  armed 
force  was  sent  down  to  see  what  were  the  character  and  purpose  of  the 
stranger.  They  found  the  vessel  was  evidently  piratical,  and  suddenly 
boarding  her,  they  captured  the  half-drunken  crew,  who  proved  to  be 
their  own  mutinous  countrymen.  The  pirates  had  at  first  been  suc- 
cessful, but  while  they  were  rejoicing  over  their  greatest  prize,  they 
were  attacked  by  some  Spanish  ships,  the  prize  was  retaken,  with 
many  of  their  own  men,  and  the  brigantine  with  the  survivors  had  a 
narrow  escape.  The  pilot  who  had  been  forced  to  join  them  was  anx- 
ious to  return  to  the  fort,  and  he  had  steered  the  bark  to  the  coast  of 
Florida  without  the  knowledge  of  the  pirates,  who  were  thus  brought 
back  to  their  deserts  for  mutiny  as  well  as  piracy.  The  Spaniards, 
without  doubt,  would  have  killed  them  all,  either  as  pirates  or  her- 
etics. The  French,  less  vindictive,  and  in  this  case  with  no  bigotry  to 
satisfy,  condemned  only  the  leaders  to  death. 

In  the  spring  one  more  attempt  was  made  to  reach  the  imaginary 
gold  country,  under  the  assurance  of  Outina  that  if  he  could  have  the 
aid  of  a  few  of  the  French  arquebusiers  he  would  open  a  way  to  that 


INDIAN  TREACHERT.  39 

long-desired  region.  The  French  soldiers  were  furnished  under  the 
command  of  Ottigny,  and  with  their  aid  the  wily  savage  made  an  at- 
tack upon  his  inveterate  enemy.  As  usual,  the  fire-arms  carried  death 
to  some  and  panic  to  the  rest,  and  a  savage  slaughter  followed.  But 
the  victory  did  not  open  the  way  to  the  gold  mines.  The  Indians 
returned  to  their  own  towns  with  many  scalps,  and  the  French  to  their 
fort  with  another  disappointment. 

Outina,  on  whose  account  the  French  had  forfeited  the  friendship 
of  the  tribes  who  were  their  nearest  neighbors,  was  ungrateful  as  well 
as  deceitful.  As  time  passed,  and  the  expected  supplies  from  France 
did  not  arrive,  the  wants  of  the  garrison  became  more  and  more  press- 
ing. The  neighboring  tribes  had  parted  with  all  the  corn  they  could 
spare,  or,  because  of  their  robbery  by  the  reckless  soldiers,  refused  to 
furnish  more.  Reduced  to  such  a  strait,  the  colonists  applied  to  Ou- 
tina, whom  they  had  twice  aided  against  his  enemies,  but  they  received 
only  a  scanty  supply,  and  were  invited  to  join  him  in  war  against  one 
of  his  own  rebellious  chiefs,  whose  country,  he  said,  would  afford  an 
abundant  reward.  The  French  accepted  the  invitation,  but  they  were 
grossly  deceived,  and  not  only  found  no  granaries  to  plunder,  but  were 
sent  back  half  starved. 

This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  chief  whose  battles  they  had  fought 
and  given  him  the  victory,  exasperated  the  suffering  garrison.  They 
demanded  that  an  expedition  should  be  sent  to  take  him  prisoner,  and 
force  him  to  furnish  supplies.  There  was  nothing  else  to  be  done,  and  a 
sufficient  force,  commanded  by  Laudonniere  himself,  went  to  accomplish 
this  object.  Outina  was  captured  in  his  lodge,  and  carried,  amid  the 
howlings  of  women  and  the  threats  of  men,  to  the  boat,  where  he  was 
held  captive,  and  a  supply  of  maize  and  beans  demanded  as  his  ransom. 
But  the  ransom  was  not  forthcoming,  and  after  waiting  two  days  in  vain, 
the  French  returned  to  the  fort  again  with  their  captive.  The  Indian 
chief  had  probably  expected  death,  but  he  was  well  treated,  and  on  being 
assured  that  he  would  be  released  if  the  ransom  was  paid,  he  made  the 
most  liberal  promises,  which  his  captors  were  anxious  to  realize. 

He  was  accordingly  carried  back  to  his  chief  town,  accompanied  by  a 
strong  body  of  soldiers,  who  were  to  receive  the  ransom.  It  was  prom- 
ised as  soon  as  the  captive  should  be  released;  but  the  savages  would 


4° 


HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENT  IN  FLORIDA. 


bring  nothing  in  advance,  for  they  believed  that  the  French,  according 
to  savage  custom,  would  take  the  ransom  and  kill  the  captive.  Outina 
was  then  released,  but  instead  of  a  prompt  payment  of  the  ransom  there 
were  signs  of  hostile  movements  on  every  side.  Armed  warriors  were 
assembling,  and  malignant  faces  were  scowling  on  the  intruders  with 
deadly  hatred,  the  terrible  arquebuses  alone  keeping  them  from  instant 
attack.  Alarmed  at  the  aspect  of  affairs,  the  officers  complained  to  Outina 
that  the  ransom  was  not  promptly  paid.  The  chief,  who  sat  apart,  appar- 
ently at  a  discount  since  his  captivity,  replied  that  he  could  not  control 
his  people,  and  warned  the  French  that  they  were  in  danger.  Ottigny, 
who  was  in  command,  determined  therefore  to  return  to  the  boats  at 
once  with  what  corn  had  been  brought  them.  They  had  passed  but  a 
short  distance  beyond  the  palisade  that  surrounded  the  town,  when,  with 
a  fearful  yell,  the  savages  made  an  attack  with  their  arrows.  The  French, 
with  their  arquebuses,  drove  them  back;  but  again  and  again,  as  they 
marched  towards  the  river,  the  attack  was  renewed,  hundreds  of  painted 
warriors  having  gathered  along  the  way,  determined  to  destroy  the  hand- 
ful of  intruders.  The  handful  of  intruders,  however,  with  their  armor 
and  their  fire-arms,  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  savage  horde,  many 
of  whom  fell  under  the  fire  of  the  arquebusiers.  All  day  the  march  and 
fight  continued,  till  the  boats  were  finally  reached,  with  the  loss  of  two 
soldiers  killed  and  many  painfully  wounded  with  the  barbed  arrows. 
And  all  the  ransom  they  secured  was  two  small  sacks  of  corn. 

The  spring  (1565)  had  now  gone  by,  and  yet  the  hoped-for  supplies 
from  France  did  not  come.  The  condition  of  the  garrison  was  getting 
desperate,  and  suffering  from  heat,  disease,  and  hunger  made  it  daily 
weaker  and  more  dispirited.  They  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  Indians,  for 
they  still  obtained  from  them  small  stores  of  food,  and  fortunately  the 
tribes  round  them  were  not  so  vindictive  and  savage  as  the  subjects  of  the 
chief,  Outina,  though  they  now  brought  the  colonists  no  free  gifts,  and 
demanded  exorbitant  prices  in  barter  for  their  smallest  supplies.  De- 
spairing of  aid  from  France,  though  Laudonniere  still  hoped,  the  colonists 
determined  to  abandon  the  fort,  and  sail  for  home  in  the  one  small  vessel 
which  had  remained  with  them  and  the  Spanish  brigantine  brought  in 
by  the  mutineers.  The  chief,  and  indeed  the  insuperable,  obstacle  to 
carrying  out  this  purpose,  was  the  want  of  provisions  for  the  voyage. 


ARRIVAL    Of  SUPPLIES.  4! 

While  they  were  vainly  devising  means  to  secure  the  needed  supplies, 
a  squadron  arrived  off  the  mouth  of  the  river,  causing  the  greatest 
excitement.  It  was  not,  however,  the  hoped-for  fleet  from  France,  but 
the  ships  of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  the  English  slave-trader,  who  had  just 
disposed,  in  the  West  Indies,  of  a  large  number  of  negro  slaves  whom  he 
had  brought  from  Africa. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  cruelty  with  which  he  had  kidnapped  the 
Africans,  Hawkins  showed  the  greatest  generosity  to  the  French.  He 
supplied  them  with  provisions,  and  offered  to  carry  them  all  to  France. 
This  offer  was  declined  by  Laudonniere,  and  the  Englishman,  condemning 
the  frail  craft  in  which  the  French  proposed  to  sail,  offered  to  sell  one  of 
his  smaller  vessels,  and  take  in  payment  the  cannon  and  other  articles 
which  would  be  abandoned  with  the  fort.  Urged  by  the  garrison,  who 
threatened  otherwise  to  desert  him,  the  commandant  assented,  and  the 
vessel  was  transferred  to  the  French,  and  duly  provisioned  for  the 
voyage. 

Hawkins,  having  completed  his  generous  service,  set  sail,  leaving  the 
French,  now  happy  with  the  hope  of  soon  seeing  their  native  land,  to 
make  some  further  preparations.  These  were  not  yet  completed,  when 
another  fleet  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  producing  a  new  excite- 
ment. This  time  it  was  the  long-expected  supplies  and  re-enforcements, 
—  a  fleet,  bringing  abundant  stores  of  food  and  a  large  number  of 
emigrants,  under  the  command  of  Ribaut,  who  had  brought  the  first 
colonists  to  Port  Royal,  and  who  now  came  to  establish  in  fact  the  per- 
manent settlement  which  De  Coligny  had  so  long  contemplated. 

NO.  n.  6 


V. 


THE    HUGUENOT   COLONY. -- MASSACRE    BY 

THE  SPANIARDS. 


-3*!- 


jHE  arrival  of  Ribaut  put  an  end  to  all  thought  of 
returning,  on  the  part  of  the  despairing  garrison,  and 
their  despondency  was  turned  to  joy.  The  new  col- 
onists had  brought  with  them  their  "  household  gods," 
their  families  of  women  and  children,  and  all  their 
social  and  home  associations.  They  had  brought 
th,eir  Protestant  religion  to  a  land  where  they  might 
be  free  from  the  persecutions  of  the  Catholic  church. 
They  had  brought  agricultural  implements  and  seeds  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  generous  soil,  and  various  means  of  industry  to  supply  the  neces- 
saries and  comforts  of  life.  The  country,  with  all  its  natural  attractions, 
took  on  a  new  aspect  with  the  advent  of  such  a  company;  its  genial 
climate  seemed  specially  adapted  to  the  genial  temperament  of  the  set- 
tlers, whose  character  not  even  the  austere  religion  of  Calvin  could 
render  morose  or  joyless. 

Alas  for  human  hopes !  Their  dream  of  security  was  doomed  to  an 
early  and  fearful  disappointment.  The  new  colonists  had  scarcely  dis- 
embarked and  trodden  the  soil  of  their  new  home,  when  a  Spanish  fleet 
appeared  off  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns,  where  the  French  vessels  were 
at  anchor.  .  When  the  French  demanded  who  the  strangers  were,  and 
their  errand,  the  Spanish  commander  replied,  "  I  am  Pedro  Menendez, 
sent  from  Spain,  with  orders  from  my  king  to  gibbet  or  put  to  the 
sword  all  the  Protestants  in  these  regions.  The  Frenchman  who  is  a 

42 


A    SPANISH  ENEMT.  43 

Catholic  I  will  spare,  but  every  heretic  shall  die!  "  This  fierce  reply 
alarmed  the  French,  though  they  at  first  shouted  back  defiance.  They 
were  then  unprepared  to  contend  against  such  a  force,  and  when  the 
Spaniards  bore  down  upon  them,  they  cut  their  cables  and  put  to  sea. 
The  Spanish  fleet  gave  chase,  but  unable  to  overtake  the  fugitives, 
sailed  again  to  the  south,  and  the  French  returned  to  their  roadstead. 

This  unexpected  appearance  of  an  enemy,  whose  nationality  and 
religious  bigotry  betokened  a  terrible  warfare,  caused  the  greatest  con- 
sternation among  the  French  colonists.  Those  upon  whom  their  defence 
devolved  were  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue. 
Some  were  in  favor  of  strengthening  the  fortifications,  and  awaiting  an 
attack  by  the  Spaniards,  but  others  advised  that  the  French  fleet  should 
sail  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  and  attack  him  on  the  sea.  Among  the 
latter  was  the  commander,  Ribaut,  and  he  adopted  this  course.  But 
just  as  he  discovered  the  position  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  a  fearful  storm 
arose,  and  continued  many  days,  with  unabated  fury,  till  all  his  ships 
were  wrecked  upon  the  sand-bars  and  reefs  that  stretch  along  the  Florida 
coast,  though  most  of  the  men  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  Spanish  fleet  was  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  St.  Augustine,  and 
also  suffered  serious  damage.  This,  and  the  long  continuance  of  the 
storm,  induced  Mencndez,  who  was  impatient  to  do  the  bloody  work 
which  bigotry  and  national  hatred  imposed  upon  him,  to  march  against 
the  French  settlement,  which  he  knew  must  now  be  left  in  a  defence- 
less condition;  for  the  French  vessels  had  been  seen  as  they  were  driven 
along  the  coast.  Learning  from  the  Indians  the  situation  of  the  settle- 
ment, in  spite  of  the  continued  storm,  he  marched,  with  great  difficulty, 
through  the  intervening  forest  and  swamps,  and  one  morning,  before 
daylight,  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort. 

Ribaut  had  taken  with  him  all  the  soldiers  he  had  brought  to  re-en- 
force the  fort,  but  had  left  the  women  and  children  and  non-combatant 
camp-followers.  The  garrison  was,  therefore,  as  the  Spaniards  thought, 
in  a  truly  defenceless  condition.  The  fort  itself  had  several  breaches, 
and  the  cannon  given  to  Sir  John  Hawkins  had  not  been  replaced. 
With  such  soldiers  and  able-bodied  men  as  he  had,  Laudonniere  en- 
deavored to  put  the  works  in  a  condition  for  defence,  but  the  heavy 
rains  seriously  impeded  their  labors.  While  the  storm  continued  they 


44  MASSACRE  BY  THE   SPANIARDS. 

did  not  anticipate  any  attack,  for  they  believed  that  the  Spaniards  could 
come  only  by  sea,  and  the  storm  would  prevent  such  an  attempt.  The 
night  that  Menendez  reached  the  St.  Johns,  the  French  sentinels  had  been 
withdrawn,  on  account  of  the  storm.  They  were  worn  down  by  their 
long  privation  and  their  recent  toils,  and  the  officer  in  command  had 
pity  on  their  miserable  condition,  believing  there  was  no  occasion  for 
their  exposure. 

Meanwhile,  the  Spaniards,  too,  were  disheartened  by  the  long  and 
toilsome  march,  in  drenching  rain,  through  endless  swamps;  their  pro- 
visions were  exhausted,  their  ammunition  wet,  and  they  were  ready  to 
mutiny,  when  at  last,  one  morning,  soon  after  daybreak,  they  reached  the 
vicinity  of  the  fort.  Menendez  then  aroused  them  by  an  appeal  to  their 
religious  zeal,  and  the  whole  force  advanced  silently,  regardless  of  storm 
and  all  obstacles,  till  they  reached  a  position  from  which  the  assault 
could  be  made.  Then,  with  a  shout,  they  rushed  forward,  and  just  then 
they  were  discovered  by  a  French  soldier,  who  gave  the  alarm.  But  it 
was  too  late;  the  garrison  could  offer  no  resistance,  and  the  Spaniards 
soon  gained  an  entrance  to  the  fort  through  a  breach  in  the  palisade. 

Then  commenced  a  massacre  such  as  only  the  religious  intolerance  of 
a  cruel  age  and  a  vindictive  race  could  prompt.  Armed  and  unarmed, 
sick  and  wounded,  men,  women,  and  children,  hurrying  from  their  beds 
at  the  alarm,  were  slaughtered  with  a  ferocity  worthy  only  of  savages. 
A  few  escaped  by  flying  to  the  woods,  among  them  Laudonniere,  the 
commander,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  resist  the  assailants,  and  Le  Moyne, 
the  artist.  Some  of  the  women  and  infants,  when  the  fury  of  the  Span- 
iards was  in  some  degree  appeased,  were  spared,  but  only  for  captivity 
and  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Inquisition.  A  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
inmates  of  the  fort,  many  of  them  helpless  women  and  children,  were 
killed;  and  not  content  with  the  slaughter  of  the  weak  and  defenceless, 
the  vindictive  murderers  treated  the  corpses  of  the  slain  with  shocking 
barbarity. 

And  all  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  the  Christian  religion!  On  the 
spot  where  the  carnage  was  greatest  the  Spaniards  reared  a  cross  and  said 
mass,  to  commemorate  their  bloody  work  and  to  dedicate  the  ground  as 
the  site  of  a  church. 

The   murderous  work  did  not  end  with  the  death  of  those  in  the  fort. 


MASSACRE    OF    THE    HUGUENOTS    AT    FORT    CAROLINA. 


SPANISH  TREACHERT. 


45 


Some  of  the  men  who  escaped  to  the  woods,  driven  by  want,  appealed  to 
the  mercy  of  the  Spaniards,  and  gave  themselves  up;  but  the  mercy  they 
met  with  was  a  speedy  and  cruel  death.  Those  who  knew  the  treach- 
ery and  ferocity  of  the  Spanish  Catholics  preferred  to  trust  to  some 
providential  escape;  and  after  severe  sufferings  they  succeeded  in  getting 
on  board  two  small  French  vessels  which  had  remained  in  the  roadstead 
when  the  fleet  sailed.  Among  those  thus  rescued  were  Laudonniere  and 
Le  Moyne. 

The  shipwrecked  mariners  and  soldiers  of  the  French  fleet  for  the 
most  part  experienced  a  like  fate  with  that  of  their  countrymen  at  the 
fort.  They  had  escaped  death  in  the  sea,  but  they  were  exposed  on 
the  bare  reefs  and  sandy  shores,  without  food  or  fresh  water  to  sustain 
them,  or  arms  to  defend  themselves.  In  their  half-famished  and  help- 
less condition  one  party  of  about  two  hundred  was  discovered  by  the 
Indians,  who  informed  the  Spaniards  of  their  position.  Menendez,  who 
had  returned  to  St.  Augustine,  immediately  proceeded  with  a  body  of 
soldiers  to  the  place  where  they  were,  and  demanded  their  surrender. 
Well  might  they  hesitate  to  give  themselves  up  to  an  enemy  whose  reli- 
gious and  national  hatred  they  had  reason  to  fear.  But  Menendez  assured 
them  of  his  compassion,  and  bade  them  rely  upon  his  honor,  saying  he 
"  would  act  towards  them  as  God  should  give  him  grace."  After  some 
parleying,  the  French  agreed  to  surrender,  and  they  were  brought  across 
the  narrow  inlet  which  divided  the  two  parties,  in  small  detachments,  by 
means  of  a  canoe.  As  each  detachment  of  prisoners  landed,  with  a 
treachery  equalled  only  by  their  atrocity,  the  Spaniards  led  them  back 
from  the  shore,  and  bound  their  hands  behind  them.  When  all  were 
thus  secured,  they  were  driven,  with  cruel  goadings,  towards  St.  Augus- 
tine, until  they  reached  a  spot  designated  by  Menendez,  when  their  cap- 
tors fell  upon  them  and  massacred  them  with  the  same  ferocity,  rendered 
more  hateful  by  treachery,  which  had  been  manifested  at  Fort  Carolina. 
And  Menendez  gloried  in  the  bloody  deed  as  one  by  which  he  served 
God  and  his  king. 

The  corpses  of  these  murdered  Frenchmen  were  hardly  cold,  when 
the  Indians  informed  the  Spaniards  that  a  much  larger  body  of  the  ship- 
wrecked men  were  at  the  same  inlet  where  the  first  party  had  been  found. 
Again  Menendez,  with  a  strong  force,  proceeded  to  the  place  signalized 


46  MASSACRE  BT  THE   SPANIARDS. 

by  his  treachery.  The  French  now  here  numbered  three  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  were  under  the  command  of  Ribaut  himself.  Another  parley 
ensued.  Ribaut  urged  that  the  French  and  Spanish  monarchs  were 
friends,  and  begged  that  Menendez  would  aid  him  in  sending  his  men 
home.  The  treacherous  Spaniard  expressed  himself  as  before,  leading 
the  Frenchman  to  believe  that  he  would  act  mercifully.  Ribaut  offered 
a  ransom  of  a  hundred  thousand  ducats  for  his  men  who  should  surrender; 
to  which  Menendez  replied,  "  It  would  grieve  me  not  to  accept  it,  for  I 
have  great  need  of  it."  This  answer  seemed  to  satisfy  Ribaut;  but  two 
hundred  of  his  men  refused  to  surrender,  and  retreated  to  the  south,  pre- 
ferring to  risk  the  danger  of  famine,  and  murder  by  the  Indians,  rather  than 
trust  themselves  to  the  mercy  of  the  Spaniards.  The  remainder  surren- 
dered. They  were  transported  across  the  inlet  in  the  same  manner  as 
their  predecessors;  in  the  same  manner  they  were  treacherously  bound 
and  cruelly  murdered.  Four  or  five  only  escaped  death  to  be  held  in 
captivity.  Those  who  had  refused  to  surrender  were  subsequently  cap- 
tured, but  their  lives  were  spared. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  the  French  Huguenots  who  attempted  to  estab- 
lish the  first  permanent  colony  within  the  territory  now  comprised  in  the 
United  States.  The  fierce  Menendez,  fit  instrument  of  a  bigoted  king 
and  a  vindictive  priesthood,  had  wiped  it  out  in  blood;  boasting  that  by 
his  wholesale  slaughter  he  had  served  God  and  his  Catholic  Majesty, 
and  proclaiming  to  the  world  that  he  had  murdered  these  men,  "  not  as 
Frenchmen,  but  as  Lutherans."  For  this  treacherous  and  cruel  work 
he  received  the  warm  approval  of  the  king  and  the  blessing  of  the  church. 
But  a  day  of  retribution  came. 

When  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  the  colonists  and  soldiers  reached 
France,  it  aroused  the  indignation  of  all  classes  except  the  zealous  Catho- 
lics. But  Frenchmen,  who  demanded  redress  for  the  outrage  on  their 
nationality,  and  Huguenots,  who  begged  that  the  murder  of  their  brethren 
should  be  punished,  appealed  alike  in  vain  to  the  weak  and  vacillating 
king.  Spanish  influence  was  dominant  at  the  French  court,  and  Catholic 
bigotry  was  preparing  the  way  for  a  more  terrible  massacre  in  a  French 
province.  It  was  left,  therefore,  for  private  enterprise  and  private  ven- 
geance to  vindicate  the  national  honor  and  to  avenge  the  atrocities  of 
Spanish  bigotry. 


A    HUGUENOT'S  REVENGE. 


47 


Dominique  de  Gourgues,  a  soldier  of  distinction  and  of  noble  birth, 
had  suffered  grievous  wrongs  at  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  during  a 
long  captivity,  when  he  was  chained  to  the  oar  as  a  galley-slave,  and 
he  longed  for  an  opportunity  to  retaliate  for  the  outrages  that  had  been 
heaped  upon  him.  When  he  heard  of  the  massacre  of  his  countrymen  in 
Florida,  his  long-nursed  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  burned  with  a  fiercer 
flame,  and  he  determined  to  avenge  his  own  wrongs  as  well  as  the 
cruel  murder  of  his  Protestant  brethren.  He  disposed  of  his  property, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  his  friends,  fitted  out  three  small  vessels,  in  which 
he  embarked  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  mostly  Huguenots,  who 
were  best  fitted  for  the  work  he  had  in  view. 

After  a  long  and  perilous  voyage  he  reached  the  West  Indies,  where 
he  first  divulged  his  purpose,  and  by  eloquent  appeals  infused  some- 
thing of  his  own  spirit  of  revenge  into  his  followers.  They  were  eager 
to  join  in  the  dangerous  enterprise,  and  the  ships  were  steered  to  the 
coast  of  Florida.  Landing  some  leagues  north  of  the  St.  Johns  River, 
they  were  met  by  the  Indians  of  the  tribes  who  had  first  welcomed 
the  former  French  colonists,  and  who,  having  already  experienced  the 
cruelty  and  arrogance  of  the  Spaniards,  were  glad  to  welcome  again, 
the  countrymen  of  their  former  neighbors.  An  alliance  was  readily 
entered  into,  and  a  body  of  Indian  warriors  agreed  to  join  in  an  attack 
on  the  Spaniards. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  French  colony,  the  Spaniards  garrisoned 
Fort  Carolina  and  constructed  two  other  forts  nearer  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  On  the  latter  the  attack  was  to  be  made,  the  French  sailing 
in  their  ships  to  an  appointed  rendezvous,  and  the  Indians  moving 
through  the  forest.  After  the  French  soldiers  landed,  there  was  yet  a 
difficult  and  weary  march  before  they  could  reach  the  forts.  But  under 
the  lead  of  the  fiery  Gourgues  and  the  guidance  of  the  Indians  they 
toiled  through  swamps  and  across  inlets  till  they  arrived  near  the  Span- 
ish position.  Then  an  attack  was  made  on  the  nearest  fort  by  the 
French  on  one  side  and  the  Indians  on  the  other.  The  Spaniards  were 
taken  by  surprise,  and  offered  but  a  feeble  resistance.  Attempting  to 
escape,  they  were  cut  off  by  a  detachment  of  the  French,  and  every 
man  perished,  or  was  captured  and  reserved  for  further  punishment. 
The  other  fort  was  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  its  garrison  briskly  can- 


48 


A   HUGUENOT'S  REVENGE. 


nonaded  the  assailants,  and  were  cannonaded  in  return  by  the  captured 
guns.  The  first  garrison  disposed  of,  the  French  crossed  in  their  boats, 
which  had  now  arrived,  and  the  Indians  swam  the  river.  Alarmed  at 
the  numbers  of  their  enemy,  who  swarmed-  out  of  the  woods  and  ad- 
vanced through  the  water  with  fearful  yells,  the  Spaniards  rushed  out 
of  the  fort  only  to  find  the  French,  who  had  already  landed,  confront- 
ing them.  The  savages  followed  in  their  rear,  and  between  the  war- 
clubs  and  spears  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  arquebuses  on  the  other, 
their  doom  was  soon  sealed. 

Fort  Carolina,  called  by  Spaniards  San  Mateo,  still  remained.  It 
was  some  distance  above  those  already  captured,  and  a  day  or  two 
intervened  before  Gourgues  advanced  against  it.  While  the  French 
and  their  Indian  allies  were  concealed  in  the  woods,  preparing  for  the 
assault,  a  Spanish  detachment  sallied  from  the  fort  to  reconnoitre,  and 
was  cut  off  by  the  French  and  destroyed.  Their  comrades  in  the  fort, 
learning  the  disaster,  sought  safety  by  abandoning  their  works  and  fly- 
ing to  the  woods  on  the  side  farthest  from  the  French.  But  here  they 
met  their  savage  foe,  who  in  great  numbers  assailed  them  with  war- 
club  and  spear,  and  not  one  escaped.  Entering  the  fort,  Gourgues  dis- 
posed of  the  few  Spaniards  who  had  as  yet  escaped  death  by  hanging 
them  to  the  trees  where  they  had  hung  the  French;  and  over  them 
he  placed  a  board  inscribed,  "  I  have  done  this  not  as  to  Spaniards 
and  Mariners,  but  as  to  Traitors,  Robbers,  and  Murderers." 

Having  destroyed  the  forts,  Gourgues,  with  a  piety  that  ill  com- 
ported with  the  bloody  work  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  gave 
thanks  to  God  for  his  victory,  and  returned  to  his  ships.  The  Indians 
were  greatly  disappointed  when  he  prepared  to  sail,  but  his  mission 
was  accomplished.  He  had  come  to  destroy,  not  to  plant  a  new  col- 
ony, and  with  thanks  and  gifts  he  bade  his  savage  allies  adieu,  and 
sailed  for  France.  His  exploit  was  applauded  by  those  of  his  coun- 
trymen whose  nationality  was  not  extinguished  by  their  bigotry;  but 
he  was  denounced  by  the  extreme  Catholics  who  surrounded  the  throne, 
and  was  obliged  for  a  time  to  seek  safety  in  exile.* 

*  In  Parkman's  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World "  is  a  most  interesting  and  graphic 
account  of  the  French  colony  on  the  St.  Johns,  its  destruction,  and  the  retribution  which  followed, 
and  to  it  the  writer  is  indebted  for  the  facts  narrated  above. 


VI. 


SPANISH    SETTLEMENT   AT    ST.   AUGUSTINE. 


WENTY  years  after  the  utter  failure  of  De  Soto's  ex- 
pedition was  known  in  Spain,  the  Spaniards  made 
another  and  more  successful  attempt  to  colonize  and 
hold  Florida.  It  was  hastened,  if  not  prompted,  by  in- 
formation received  by  the  government  that  the  French 
Huguenots  had  made  a  settlement  within  what  was 
claimed  as  the  dominion  of  Spain.  Philip  II.  was  a  big- 
oted Catholic  as  well  as  a  bitter  enemy  of  France.  To  destroy  the 
colony  of  heretics  and  Frenchmen,  and  to  secure  Florida  to  Spain  and 
the  church,  was  a  religious  duty.  Don  Pedro  Menendez  de.Aviles, 
who  had  been  thoroughly  trained  in  the  cruel  warfare  of  that  age,  who 
had  manifested  his  intolerance  in  the  Netherlands,  and  his  unscrupu- 
lous ability  in  New  Spain,  was  selected  to  perform  that  duty.  He  was 
appointed  hereditary  governor  of  Florida,  which  included  a  territory 
of  indefinite  extent,  and  of  which  he  was  to  complete  the  conquest 
within  three  years.  He  was  required  to  plant  a  colony  there  composed 
in  part  of  married  men,  with  such  number  of  priests,  including  Jesuits, 
as  should  satisfy  the  bigotry  of  the  king  and  his  priestly  advisers. 
And  he  was  also  required  to  exterminate  the  French  heretics  who  had 
sought  a  refuge  there.  This,  indeed,  became  the  first,  and  apparently 
the  most  important,  object  of  the  expedition.  In  return  for  such  ser- 
vice he  was  granted  princely  emoluments  and  privileges. 

The  expedition  was  fitted  out  on  the  most  extensive  scale,  exceed- 
ing all  previous  enterprises  of  the  kind.     It   comprised  thirty-four  ves- 
sels and  twenty-six  hundred  persons,  and  was  supplied  with  everything 
NO.  n.  7  49 


5o  SPANISH  SETTLEMENT  AT  ST.   AUGUSTINE. 

necessary  for  the  establishment  of  a  colony  —  families  of  emigrants 
anxious  to  make  a  home  in  a  new  country,  the  luxuriance  and  beaut}' 
of  which  had  been  painted  in  glowing  colors,  —  monks  and  priests  who 
should  plant  the  cross  there,  and  soldiers  who  should  defend  it,  and 
destroy  all  heretics,  —  domestic  animals,  agricultural  and  mechanical 
implements,  and  whatever  else  the  necessities  of  the  settlers  or  the 
object  of  the  expedition  required. 

Information  having  been  received  in  Spain  that  a  French  fleet,  un- 
der Ribaut,  had  sailed  for  Florida,  Menendez  hastened  his  departure, 
and  sailed  with  only  a  portion  of  his  fleet,  leaving  the  smaller  vessels 
to  follow.  The  voyage  was  boisterous,  and  the  fleet  was  separated. 
Reaching  the  West  Indies,  Menendez,  after  waiting  a  short  time  for 
the  arrival  of  all  his  ships,  became  impatient  to  carry  out  his  enter- 
prise, and  proceeded  to  Florida  before  they  all  joined  him.  Sailing 
along  the  coast  in  search  alike  of  the  Huguenot  settlement  and  a  favor- 
able place  to  plant  his  own  colony,  he  discovered  a  harbor  which  by 
its  beauty  and  fine  situation  invited  him  to  enter.  lie  tarried,  how- 
ever, only  long  enough  to  note  the  advantages  it  offered,  and  to  learn 
from  the  Indians  the  position  of  the  French.  He  then  sailed  north  to 
the  St.  Johns  River,  where  he  found  Ribaut's  French  fleet,  and  sent  to 
the  "  heretics "  the  intolerant  threat  which  has  been  mentioned  on  a 
previous  page.  Failing  to  overtake  the  French  fleet  when  it  put  to 
sea,  he  returned  to  the  harbor  where  he  had  previously  anchored. 

Here  he  determined  to  establish  his  colony,  and  in  honor  of  the 
saint  on  whose  day  he  had  first  sighted  the  land  granted  to  him  for" 
conquest,  he  named  the  place  St.  Augustine.  The  harbor,  which  was 
capable  of  affording  a  haven  for  most  of  the  Spanish  ships  of  that  time, 
though  accessible  only  to  the  smaller  craft  of  the  present  day,  was  sep- 
arated from  the  ocean  by  a  narrow  island,  afterwards  named  Anastasia. 
On  the  west,  two  rivers  flowed  into  it,  forming  a  peninsula,  which  was 
selected  as  the  site  of  the  settlement.  Experience  proved  that  the  place 
was  well  chosen,  though  more  by  chance  than  wisdom.  Being  sur- 
rounded by  salt  marshes  and  tidal  water,  it  was  free  from  the  miasma 
of  the  swamps  which  rendered  the  interior  so  fatal.  The  sea  breezes 
tempered  the  tropical  heat  of  summer,  and  the  winters  were  mild  and 
pleasant.  It  was,  moreover,  easily  protected  from  the  attacks  of  hostile 


LANDING    OF   THE    COLONT.  5I 

Indians  on  the  landward  side,  and  capable  of  defence  against  the  fleets 
of  enemies  approaching  from  the  sea. 

It  was  on  the  8th  of  September  (1565),  the  festival  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  that  Menendez  landed  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  country 
in  the  name  of  the  Spanish  monarch.  The  proceedings  were  conducted 
with  all  the  pomp  of  military  display  and  religious  ceremonials.  Soldiers, 
priests,  and  colonists  debarked;  the  royal  banner  was  unfurled,  and  beside 
it  the  banner  of  the  church;  a  solemn  procession  moved  over  the  soil 
hitherto  trodden  only  by  a  few  savages;  high  mass  was  performed,  the 
ground  was  duly  consecrated,  and  the  land  was  claimed  for  the  dominion 
not  only  of  Spain,  but  of  the  Roman  church.  A  site  was  selected  for  a 
church  and  another  for  a  fort,  and  after  ample  reservations  for  the  gov- 
ernor and  his  officers,  the  humbler  colonists,  who  were  neither  priests  nor 
soldiers,  were  allowed  no  very  liberal  extent  of  ground  on  which  to  erect 
their  dwellings.  Such  was  the  founding  of  St.  Augustine,  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Europeans  which  proved  a  permanent  one  within  the  territory 
now  composing  the  United  States,  though  Santa  Fe  was  settled  at  about 
the  same  time  by  an  expedition  moving  north  from  Mexico. 

The  work  of  landing  the  emigrants,  the  domestic  animals,  and  the 
various  supplies,  and  of  erecting  temporary  shelter,  was  hardly  completed 
when  a  severe  storm  arose,  and  continued  many  days.  Many  of  the 
Spanish  vessels  suffered  great  damage,  though,  sheltered  in  the  harbor, 
they  escaped  the  disaster  which  befell  the  French  fleet.  Menendez, 
never  forgetful  of  his  promise  to  his  bigoted  king,  and  surrounded  by 
"priests  who  would  not  permit  him  to  forget,  even  if  his  intolerant  spirit 
had  not  urged  him  to  cruel  action,  made  it  his  first  purpose  to  destroy 
the  Huguenot  colony.  Knowing  that  the  French  ships  had  put  to  sea,  and 
were  scattered,  if  not  wrecked,  by  the  storm,  and  that  the  settlers  would 
be  left  in  a  more  defenceless  condition,  while  the  storm  yet  prevailed 
he  marched,  under  the  guidance  of  Indians,  through  forest  and  swamp,  to 
the  River  St.  Johns.  The  atrocity  with  \vhich  he  executed  his  mission 
has  been  narrated  in  a  preceding  page.  After  it  was  perpetrated,  leaving 
a  sufficient  number  of  his  men  to  hold  the  position,  and  prevent  re-occu- 
pation by  the  French,  he  returned  to  St.  Augustine,  and  soon  after 
crowned  his  bloody  exploits  and  his  treachery  by  murdering  the  ship- 
wrecked French  mariners. 


52  SPANISH  SETTLEMENT  AT  ST.   AUGUSTINE. 

But  Menendez  was  able  as  well  as  cruel,  and  under  his  direction, 
after  the  arrival  of  the  remainder  of  his  expedition,  the  settlement  soon 
assumed  form  and  permanence.  In  a  few  years  it  possessed  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  Spanish  village  transplanted  to  the  new  world.  It 
was  protected  on  the  landward  side  by  a  palisade  in  lieu  of  wall.  It  had 
its  fortress,  its  church,  and  its  monastery,  and  its  humbler  dwellings 
ranged  around  the  plaza  in  which  grew  the  palmetto  and  magnolia. 
Soldiers  and  priests  were  numerous.  The  people,  naturally  indolent, 
imposed  their  burdens  on  negro  slaves;  and  even  these  were  not  encour- 
aged to  industry  by  the  strict  observance  of  all  the  festivals  of  the  Roman 
calendar.  The  genial  climate  and  fruitful  soil  made  the  life  of  the 
settlers  an  easy  one,  so  long  as  they  offended  neither  priests  nor  soldiers. 

By  the  door  of  the  low  palmetto-thatched  cottage  the  Spanish  maiden 
plaited  strands  of  the  palmetto  or  the  tough  grass  of  the  meadows,  while  at 
her  feet  a  youth  thrummed  the  guitar  and  sang  the  love-songs  of  their 
native  land.  Haply  a  soldier,  wandering  from  the  fort,  would  make 
bolder  love  to  the  maiden,  and  treat  with  unreserved  insolence  the  favored 
lover.  After  vespers,  as  the  sun  sank  behind  the  western  forest,  all  the 
settlers,  old  and  young,  would  gather  in  the  plaza  of  the  little  village,  and 
join  in  the  graceful  Spanish  dance,  or  talk  of  by-gone  pleasures  in  Old 
Spain,  which  they  would  fain  renew  in  this  strange  land.  The  sable 
African,  torn  from  his  native  land,  and  not  yet  possessing  the  childish 
gayety  of  succeeding  generations,  looked  on  in  sullen  wonder.  The  gray 
Franciscan  friar  came  forth  from  the  humble  monastery  to  gaze  upon  the 
scene,  and  the  black-robed  Jesuit  smiled  upon  the  merry-making  if  the 
dancers  but  faithfully  attended  mass,  and  did  not  neglect  the  confessional. 

Unlike  the  later  colonists  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  they  were  not 
exposed  to  hostile  incursions  of  Indians,  nor  subjected  to  severe  privations 
and  hardships.  The  most  they  had  to  fear  were  the  arrogance  of  the 
soldiers  and  the  inquisitorial  powers  of  the  church.  The  settlement  was 
the  offspring  of  bigotry,  and  over  it  bigotry  ruled  supreme. 

Soon  after  the  settlement  of  St.  Augustine,  the  foundations  were  laid 
for  the  remarkable  fortress,  known  as  St.  Marks,  which  was  more  than 
three  quarters  of  a  century  in  building,  and  which  still  stands  a  pictu- 
resque memorial  of  a  past  age,  such  as  is  found  in  no  other  part  of  the 
country.  It  was  built  from  coquina,  a  conglomerate  of  shells  and  sand, 


CASTLE    OF   ST.   MARKS.  e, 

quarried  on  the  Island  of  Anastasia.  In  its  external  appearance  it  has 
all  the  characteristics  of  a  castle  of  the  middle  ages,  and  in  its  interior 
are  found  not  only  ample  quarters  for  its  garrison,  massive  casemates, 
and  an  elaborately  finished  chapel,  but  dark  and  mysterious  passages  and 
dungeons,  of  which  the  fearful  use  has  been  revealed  by  the  discovery  in 
them  of  skeletons,  whose  crumbling  bones  were  still  encircled  by  fetters, 
and  bound  with  rusty  chains  to  massive  ring-bolts.  Other  skeletons  have 
also  been  discovered  sealed  up  with  solid  masonry  within  its  walls. 
When  these  victims  of  a  cruel  power  were  consigned  to  their  fearful 
death  cannot  be  known,  but,  from  the  first,  cruelty  was  the  characteristic 
of  the  military  rulers,  and  religious  intolerance  inspired  its  indulgence. 
The  evil  practices  of  Spain  were  readily  transplanted  to  the  new  world. 
It  is  said  that  between  the  fortress  and  the  monastery  was  a  subterranean 
passage,  and  possibly  along  this  gloomy  way  more  than  one  unfortunate 
heretic  was  conducted  from  the  chamber  of  the  Inquisition  to  a  dungeon 
of  which  the  door  never  again  opened  for  him.  But  whether  the  suffer- 
ers were  heretics,  political  offenders,  criminals,  or  the  victims  of  private 
vengeance,  they  probably  met  their  doom  in  the  early  period  of  the 
history  of  St.  Augustine,  when  the  successors  of  Menendez  inherited  his 
cruelty,  and  religion  encouraged  its  exercise. 

It  was  many  years,  however,  before  the  Castle  of  St.  Marks  attained 
anything  like  its  complete  proportions.  At  first,  a  less  ambitious  struc- 
ture served  for  defence,  and  gradually  forts  were  constructed  at  other 
points  on  the  coast,  designed  more  to  resist  the  foreign  invader  than 
for  protection  against  the  Indians.  The  ships  of  France,  England,  and 
the  buccaneers  were  more  feared  than  the  savages  from  the  swamps  and 
forests  of  the  interior. 

But  it  was  not  till  twenty  years  after  the  settlement  of  St.  Augus- 
tine that  it  was  visited  by  a  foreign  foe.  In  the  mean  time,  it  had  be- 
come a  comparatively  well-built  town,  with  a  few  substantial  buildings. 
Gardens  in  which  the  orange  and  fig  trees  flourished  were  cultivated, 
and  the  village  had  a  pleasant  aspect,  with  its  semi-tropical  vegetation. 
The  colonists,  a  portion  of  whom  had  grown  up  from  childhood  here,  had 
long  since  ceased  to  sigh  for  the  scenes  of  Old  Spain,  and  had  become 
attached  to  their  homes,  which,  if  less  substantial  than  those  they  had 
left  in  their  native  land,  were,  perhaps,  quite  as  comfortable  and  pleas- 


54 


SPANISH  SETTLEMENT  AT  ST.   AUGUSTINE. 


ant.  Life  passed  very  much  as  in  a  village  of  Castile,  where,  in  peaceful 
times,  monk,  soldier,  and  peasant  droned  away  the  noontide  in  undis- 
turbed indolence.  From  such  quiet  the  settlement  was  one  day  startled, 
in  1586,  by  the  appearance  of  a  number  of  ships  bearing  the  English 
flag.  Though  Spain  and  England  were  then  at  war,  the  colonists  at 
St.  Augustine  little  dreamed  that  in  their  remote  quarter  of  the  world 
the  enemy  wrould  seek  them  out,  and  they  were  not  prepared  for  the 
visitation.  The  fierce  Menendez  was  no  longer  in  the  colony,  there 
were  no  ships  capable  of  meeting  the  enemy,  and  the  commander  of 
the  garrison,  fearful  that  he  could  not  successfully  resist  an  attack,  de- 
termined to  abandon  the  fort.  The  alarm  spread  quickly  through  the 
settlement,  and,  in  their  terror,  the  inhabitants  at  once  prepared  to  aban- 
don their  homes.  Soldiers,  priests,  villagers,  and  slaves,  men,  women, 
and  children,  seizing  whatever  of  food  was  at  hand,  moved  with  all 
haste  through  the  gateway  of  the  palisade,  and  toiled  through  the  swamps 
to  the  forts  on  the  St.  Johns.  It  was  a  fearful  journey  for  many  of 
them,  but  they  believed  that  death  was  behind,  and  safety  only  before. 

The  cause  of  this  alarm  was  the  squadron  of  Sir  Francis  Drake, 
who  had  been  capturing  Spanish  ships,  and  attacking  and  destroying 
various  Spanish  forts  and  settlements  in  the  West  Indies,  and  who  de- 
termined, before  returning  to  England,  to  add  one  more  to  his  list  of 
achievements.  He  had  suffered  heavy  loss,  on  one  of  his  early  trading 
voyages,  at  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  who  had  attacked  the  ships  of 
Sir  John  Hawkins,  one  of  which  Drake  commanded,  and  destroyed 
nearly  all  of  them.  Failing  to  obtain  indemnity  from  Spain,  he  vowed 
that  he  would  avenge  his  wrongs  and  make  good  his  losses  by  warfare 
on  his  own  account.  He  had,  on  former  expeditions,  made  good  his 
threat  by  attacking  and  plundering  various  Spanish  settlements  in  South 
America,  and  capturing  richly  laden  ships.  The  rupture  between  Spain 
and  England  now  afforded  him  a  new  opportunity  to  gratify  his  hostility 
to  the  Spaniards,  and  he  promptly  improved  it. 

Entering  the  harbor  of  St.  Augustine,  no  cannon  replied  to  his,  and 
Drake  soon  discovered  that  the  fort  and  hamlet  were  deserted.  He 
accordingly  landed  a  sufficient  force,  and  having  plundered  the  fort, 
church,  and  monastery  of  all  that  was  valuable,  he  set  fire  to  them,  and 
to  the  humbler  dwellings  of  the  colonists,  and  then  withdrew.  To  this 


THE    TOWN  REBUILT.  S5 

extent,  though  happily  free  from  bloodshed,  did  retribution  come  upon 
St.  Augustine,  whose  settlement  was  the  offspring  of  intolerance,  and 
was  celebrated  by  a  more  fearful  and  bloody  destruction  of  the  Hugue- 
not settlement  on  the  St.  Johns. 

When  the  fugitive  Spaniards  were  assured  that  their  enemy  had  de- 
parted, they  returned  to  St.  Augustine,  to  find  their  homes  in  ashes, 
their  church  despoiled  and  burned,  and  their  defences  destroyed.  Then 
came  longings  for  their  old  home,  in  the  interior  of  Spain,  where  there 
was  no  fear  of  hostile  fleets.  But  for  the  honor  of  Spain  the  garrison 
must  remain;  the  younger  colonists  remembered  no  other  homes,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  return  impoverished  to  their  native  country.  Noth- 
ing remained,  therefore,  but  to  rebuild  the  fort,  church,  and  dwellings, 
and  the  work  was  speedily  commenced.  They  now  experienced  more 
of  privation  and  hardship  than  had  yet  befallen  them,  though  the  genial 
climate  caused  no  real  suffering,  and  supplies  from  Cuba  prevented 
want.  The  rebuilt  town  grew  slowly,  but  was  undisturbed  by  foreign 
foes  until  a  century  after  its  settlement.  The  monastery,  at  least,  flour- 
ished, and  a  large  number  of  monks  and  priests  made  St.  Augustine  a 
rigid  Catholic  town. 

Spain  had  always  aimed  at  conquest  in  the  new  world.  Her  expe- 
ditions were  always  military  or  naval  ones,  and  colonies  were  to  follow 
conquest.  Menendez  had  come,  like  his  predecessors,  to  conquer  Flor- 
ida; but  he  found  that  the  scattered  Indian  tribes  afforded  no  opportu- 
nity for  such  conquest  as  he  contemplated,  and  that  the  mineral  wealth 
of  the  country  was  a  myth.  He  planted  the  colony  at  St.  Augustine, 
and  built  a  few  forts,  but  he  accomplished  nothing  more.  He  did  not 
realize  the  wealth  he  anticipated,  either  from  mines  or  the  fruitful  soil; 
on  the  contrary,  he  had  exhausted  his  means  in  fitting  out  his  expedi- 
tion, lie  had  gratified  his  intolerant  spirit  and  his  hatred  of  the  French, 
and  that  compensated  in  some  degree  for  his  other  disappointments; 
but  after  a  few  years  he  returned  to  Spain  impoverished.  He  was  not 
dishonored,  however,  for  the  bigoted  Philip  II.,  rejoicing  in  the  murder 
of  the  French  heretics,  and  in  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic  colony 
in  Florida,  did  not  demand  the  fulfilment  of  other  promises,  but  ap- 
plauded his  cruelty,  and  conferred  new  honors  upon  him. 


VII. 


THE  FRENCH  ON  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE. 
ROBERVAL  AND  MARGUERITE. 


the  French  failed  to  establish  a  colony  in 
1  Florida,  they  were  more  successful  in  a  higher  latitude. 
'>  Their  hardy  Breton  and  Basque  fishermen  were  among 
the  first  to  pursue  the  cod  on  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land, and  their  daring  mariners  early  explored  the  north- 
I  ern  shores  of  the  continent,  bent  upon  finding  a  northern 
passage  to  the  Indies.  Verrazzano,  an  Italian,  but  sailing 
under  the  French  flag,  in  1524  sailed  along  the  coast  from  North  Car- 
olina to  Newfoundland;  Cartier,  in  1535,  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
as  far  as  Montreal,  and  built  a  fort  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Charles, 
where  with  his  followers  he  passed  the  winter.  He  came,  however, 
more  to  explore  than  to  plant  a  colony,  and  after  one  winter,  during 
which  his  men  suffered  fearfully  from  the  scurvy,  and  many  of  them 
died,  he  returned  to  France,  carrying  with  him  a  number  of  natives, 
whom  he  treacherously  induced  to  go  on  board  his  ships.  But  the 
report  which  Cartier  carried  to  France  led  to  another  expedition,  the 
objects  of  which  were  discovery,  settlement,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
natives.  This,  also,  was  under  the  command  of  Cartier,  who  was  to 
be  joined  by  a  nobleman  named  Roberval,  commissioned  as  viceroy 
of  New  France,  as  all  the  northern  part  of  the  continent  was  called. 
Cartier  again  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  (in  1541),  built  two  forts,  and 
planted  some  small  patches  of  ground.  But  when  another  miserable  win- 
ter had  been  passed,  the  motley  crew  of  colonists,  many  of  whom  were 
the  released  convicts  of  prisons,  became  mutinous,  and  Cartier  abandoned 

56 


FAILURE    OF  ROBERVAL' S  ENTERPRISE. 


57 


the  forts,  and  again  set  sail  for  France,  carrying  some  quartz  crystals 
which  he  thought  were  diamonds,  and  some  yellow  mica  which  he 
thought  was  gold.  While  lying  at  St.  John,  Roberval  arrived  with  three 
ships  and  two  hundred  colonists,  who  were  to  join  the  pioneers  of  the 
expedition  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Astonished  and  indignant  to  find  that 
Cartier  had  abandoned  the  object  of  the  expedition  fitted  out  at  so  great 
expense,  Roberval  ordered  him  to  return  to  the  St.  Lawrence;  but,  dis- 
gusted with  the  country  and  the  prospect,  he  refused,  and  in  the  night 
sailed  away  for  France. 

Roberval  continued  his  voyage,  and,  sailing  up  the  St.  Lawrence, 
landed  his  colony  at  the  place  where  Cartier  first  constructed  a  fort. 
Here  it  was  determined  to  make  a  settlement,  and  the  men  were  set 
at  work  to  erect  a  huge  structure  which  should  afford  ample  accom- 
modation for  the  two  hundred  colonists,  and  at  the  same  time  should 
be  a  work  of  defence  against  any  hostile  natives.  It  was  a  motley 
community,  composed  of  nobles  and  gentlemen,  soldiers  and  artisans, 
and  not  a  few  convicts,  besides  women  and  children;  and  all  these 
were  housed  in  one  great  castle  built  of  timber  and  divided  into  vari- 
ous apartments  designed  to  meet  all  the  wants  of  such  an  assemblage. 
But  though  the  colonists  had  shelter,  and  ample  store-rooms,  and  mills 
for  grinding  corn,  they  were  but  poorly  supplied  with  provisions.  The 
long,  cold  winter  came,  and  with  it  came  famine.  The  colony  was 
reduced  to  extremity,  half  starving  on  the  fish  they  could  buy  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  roots  which  they  dug  in  the  forest.  Sickness  and  death 
followed,  and  before  the  winter  had  passed,  one  third  of  their  number 
were  dead.  Roberval  ruled  with  an  iron  hand,  and  punished  with  the 
greatest  severity  anything  like  mutiny  or  rebellion.  The  lash  was  fre- 
quently used,  and  the  gallows  had  its  victims;  men,  and  even  women, 
were  shot,  and  some  unfortunates  were  bound  and  left  upon  an  island 
.to  starve.  Under  such  circumstances,  and  such  despotic  rule,  no  com- 
munity could  long  survive,  and  this  attempt  at  settlement  failed  more 
disastrously  than  that  of  Cartier. 

An  instance  of  the  stern  cruelty  of  Roberval  is  said  to  have  oc- 
curred on  the  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  Among  the  company  on 
board  his  ship  was  his  niece,  a  young  woman  named  Marguerite,  whose 
personal  attractions  had  won  the  heart  of  a  young  gentleman  who  left 

NO.    II.  8 


58  ROBERVAL   AND  MARGUERITE. 

France  in  the  same  ship  for  love  of  her.  The  affection  was  mutual, 
and  as  they  took  no  pains  to  conceal  it,  Roberval  was  greatly  incensed, 
and  determined  to  punish  his  niece  for  the  offence.  North  of  New- 
foundland was  an  island  reputed  among  the  sailors  of  that  superstitious 
age,  as  well  as  the  Indians,  to  be  inhabited  by  demons.  Whether  it 
was  the  roar  of  the  winds  through  the  cedars,  the  mysterious  moaning 
of  the  sea,  the  howl  of  wild  beasts,  or  the  clamor  of  sea- fowl,  a  fear- 
ful din  was  said  to  be  ever  heard  over  the  island,  and  was  attributed 
to  the  infernal  orgies  of  raging  demons.  The  fishermen  carefully 
avoided  these  fearful  shores,  lest  they  should  fall  into  the  clutches  of 
the  devils,  whom  some  of  them  professed  to  have  seen  in  all  their  hid- 
eous proportions.  Off"  the  shore  of  this  island  Roberval  cast  anchor, 
and  put  his  offending  niece  ashore,  accompanied  by  an  old  female  ser- 
vant who  had  encouraged  her  mistress  in  her  passion.  He  gave  them 
some  provisions  to  sustain  life  for  a  time,  and  some  arquebuses  with 
which  to  defend  themselves  against  the  assaults  of  wild  beasts  and 
savages,  if  not  against  the  more  dreaded  spirits  of  evil.  The  lover,  too 
faithful  to  allow  his  beloved  to  be  left  thus  to  perish,  resolved  to  share 
her  fate,  and  plunging  into  the  sea  succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  capture  him,  and  the  ship  soon  sailed  away, 
and  the  three  were  left  on  the  desolate  shore  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
savages  and  beasts,  and,  as  the  sailors  believed,  to  the  tortures  of  the 
devils. 

Left  to  perish,  with  little  hope  of  escape,  the  lovers  at  least  found 
consolation  in  each  other's  presence.  They  constructed  such  rude  shel- 
ter as  they  could,  and  indulged  the  love  for  which  they  were  so  cru- 
elly punished;  and  however  much  the  demons  may  have  raged  about 
their  devoted  heads,  they  suffered  no  harm  from  that  source  —  a  result 
which  the  devout  old  chroniclers  ascribe  to  the  protection  of  the  Holy 
Virgin.  The  short  summer  passed,  and  the  long  winter  came,  and  with 
it  privations  and  suffering,  relieved  at  last  by  the  return  of  spring.  A 
child  was  born;  after  a  time  the  father  sank  under  hardship  and  dis- 
ease, and  died,  and  the  child  soon  followed.  The  old  servant  did  not 
long  survive,  and  then  the  unfortunate  lady  was  left  alone  to  fight  the 
battle  of  life  on  this  desolate  and  haunted  shore.  No  savage  ever  ap- 
peared; but  hungry  bears,  prowling  about  the  cabin,  had  been  shot  in 


MARGUERITE. 


59 


self-defence,  and  afforded  the  outcasts  food,  even  while  they  believed 
that  the  demons  assumed  such  shape.  To  defend  life  and  to  sustain  it, 
Marguerite,  when  left  alone,  was  obliged  more  than  once  to  shoot  the 
savage  beasts.  With  a  remarkable  capacity  to  resist  cold  and  hardship, 
she  passed  another  dreary  winter;  but  ere  the  third  came  she  was  for- 
tunately discovered  by  some  adventurous  fishermen,  and  rescued  and 
returned  to  France,  to  tell  the  wondrous  tale  of  her  adventures.  But  this 
forced  settlement  on  the  Isle  of  Demons  was  of  longer  duration  than  the 
larger  one  which  Roberval  attempted  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Probably  this  story  is  not  altogether  a  myth,  although,  as  related  by 
the  old  chroniclers,  it  would  appear  such;  for  they  are  more  concerned 
with  the  efforts  of  imaginary  demons  to  capture  the  souls  of  the  exiles, 
and  the  protecting  care  of  the  Virgin,  than  with  the  physical  sufferings 
and  mental  anguish  of  the  exiles.  We  may  imagine  something  of  the 
miserable  life  they  led  upon  that  desolate  island  —  their  efforts  to  pro- 
vide a  shelter  from  the  cold  and  storms,  and  to  husband  their  scanty 
supplies;  their  timid  wanderings  over  a  limited  extent  of  their  domain, 
gathering  scanty  berries,  or  searching  for  the  eggs  of  the  sea  fowl,  and 
ever  watching  with  hopeless  anxiety  for  some  approaching  sail;  their 
sufferings  through  the  long  and  dreary  winter,  when  the  shores  for 
months  were  ice-bound,  and  the  drifting  snows  almost  buried  their 
cabin;  the  pangs  of  hunger,  appeased  sometimes  only  by  innutritious 
roots;  their  conflict  with  ferocious  beasts;  and,  through  all  the  misery,  the 
continuance  of  a  mutual  love  that  could  endure  these  common  hardships, 
and  even  find  some  brief  moments  of  happiness.  But  who  can  picture 
the  anguish  with  which  the  unshriven  lover,  and  then  the  unbaptized 
babe,  and  then  the  last  human  companion,  were  dragged  forth,  by  that 
lonely  woman,  from  the  desolate  cabin,  for  unsanctified  burial,  in  a 
shallow  grave  which  hungry  beasts  might  violate;  and  the  utter  lone- 
liness and  despair  that  must  have  followed!  The  torture  of  demons, 
raging  and  threatening  with  all  the  horrid  orgies  which  superstition 
could  paint,  could  be  no  more  fearful  than  the  sufferings  which  the 
unfortunate  Marguerite  must  have  endured. 

After  the  failure  of  Cartier  and  Roberval  to  establish  a  colony  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  all  further  attempts  were  abandoned  by  the  French 
for  many  years.  Their  attention  was  engrossed  in  the  feuds  of  their 


60  THE  FRENCH   ON   THE   ST.   LAWRENCE. 

own  country,  and  their  activity  found  abundant  occupation  in  the  wars 
between  contending  factions.  Their  fishermen,  in  large  numbers,  con- 
tinued to  gather  the  harvest  of  the  sea  about  Newfoundland,  and  fur 
traders  found  their  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Tadoussac,  to  barter 
with  the  Indians,  but  no  settlement  was  anywhere  attempted. 

In  1598,  however,  the  Marquis  de  La  Roche  undertook  to  colonize 
the  country  claimed  as  a  domain  of  France.  He  was  granted  extraor- 
dinary powers  and  privileges  by  the  king,  and  sailed  in  a  small  vessel, 
with  a  company  composed  in  part  of  criminals  taken  from  the  prisons. 
Arriving  at  Sable  Island,  he  landed  forty  convicts,  and  proceeded  with 
the  more  worthy  part  of  his  company  to  make  explorations,  and  select 
a  site  for  the  permanent  establishment  of  his  colony.  But  a  storm 
drove  him  out  to  sea,  and  he  was  forced  to  sail  back  to  France,  leav- 
ing the  band  of  criminals  to  take  care  of  themselves.  They  were  on  a 
low,  treeless  island,  where  the  only  vegetation  was  a  coarse  grass  and 
low  bushes.  But  a  wreck  was  on  the  beach,  and  from  this  they  con- 
structed a  shelter,  and  they  caught  fish  and  wild  fowl  for  food.  They 
also  hunted  wild  cattle  found  on  the  island,  —  the  progeny  of  some  left 
there  many  years  before,  —  and  trapped  foxes,  and  killed  seals.  Leading 
a  miserable  life,  where  they  could  not  prey  upon  society,  they  preyed 
upon  each  other,  quarrelled,  fought,  and  murdered,  so  that  disease  and 
violence  at  last  reduced  their  number  to  twelve.  Five  years  this  "  col- 
ony" endured  the  hardships  of  their  hopeless  life,  and  then  the  survivors 
\vere  rescued  by  a  vessel  of  their  countrymen.  Probably  the  "fittest 
survived,"  for  they  are  said  to  have  subsequently  engaged  in  the  fur 
trade,  instead  of  returning  to  a  life  of  crime  in  France. 


VIII. 


FRENCH    SETTLEMENT    IN    ACADIA. 


-m- 


T  was  not  till  more  than  sixty  years  after  the  failure  of 
Cartier  and  Roberval  to  found  a  colony  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence, that  a  more  successful  attempt  was  made  to  estab- 
lish a  French  settlement  in  New  France,  and  that  at  first 
was  little  better  than  a  failure.  Aymar  de  Chastes,  to 
whom  a  patent  was  granted  by  the  king  of  France  to  plant 
a  colony  in  New  France,  formed  a  company  among  the  merchants  en- 
gaged in  the  fur  trade  and  fisheries,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the 
objects  of  his  grant.  Under  the  auspices  of  this  company  a  preliminary 
voyage  of  exploration  was  made  by  Champlain  and  Pontgrave.  They 
sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  Champlain  attempted  to  ascend  the 
rapids  above  Montreal,  but  without  success.  After  a  brief  examination 
of  the  shores  where  Cartier,  nearly  seventy  years  before,  had  attempted 
a  settlement,  they  returned  to  France,  to  find  that  De  Chastes  was  dead. 
The  Sieur  de  Monts  was  then  granted  a  patent  to  colonize  Acadia, 
which  comprised  all  the  north-eastern  portion  of  the  continent  as  far  as 
the  St.  Lawrence,  with  extraordinary  powers  and  privileges.  De  Monts 
reorganized  the  company  which  De  Chastes  had  formed,  Champlain  and 
Pontgrave  being  still  interested,  and  fitted  out  two  vessels,  in  which  (in 
April,  1604)  he  embarked  a  singular  combination  of  gentlemen,  vaga- 
bonds, and  criminals,  Huguenot  ministers  and  Catholic  priests.  Such  a 
company  was  not  very  good  material  for  a  colony,  the  gentlemen  alone 
feeling  any  interest  in  the  success  of  the  expedition;  the  others,  with 
the  exception  of  the  clergy,  being  hired,  and  some  of  them  forced  into 
the  service.  Before  the  voyage  was  over  there  were  not  only  quarrels 

61 


62  FRENCH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AC  AD  I  A. 

among  the  vagabonds  and  thieves,  but  the  edifying  spectacle  was  exhib- 
ited of  Catholic  priests  and  Protestant  ministers  pommelling  each  other 
because  neither  would  accept  the  tenets  of  his  opponent. 

Reaching  the  Bay  of  Fundy  with  one  of  his  vessels,  De  Monts 
explored  its  shores,  and  entered  the  .  strait  which  opens  into  the  harbor 
of  Annapolis.  The  Baron  de  Poutrincourt,  one  of  the  noblemen  who 
accompanied  De  Monts,  was  greatly  pleased  with  the  aspect  of  the 
country,  rising  in  gentle  hills  about  the  broad  expanse  of  water,  and 
clothed  with  summer  verdure.  He  desired  to  settle  there,  and  obtained 
from  De  Monts  a  grant  of  the  region  about  the  harbor,  which  was  after- 
wards confirmed  by  the  king.  The  place  was  at  once  named  Port  Royal, 
which  name  it  retained  as  long  as  the  French  held  it. 

The  exploration  was  then  continued  in  search  of  a  place  to  establish 
a  settlement  of  the  motley  company  now  in  the  ships,  for  Poutrincourt 
intended  to  bring  out  his  own  party  to  his  domain  at  Port  Royal.  At 
last  they  selected  an  island,  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  River,  which 
was  nearly  surrounded  by  rocks,  and  was  well  adapted  to  defence,  either 
against  hostile  natives  or  the  ships  of  civilized  enemies.  The  colonists 
disembarked,  and  the  various  stores  and  materials  were  landed.  The 
island  was  well  covered  with  cedars,  which  afforded  timber  for  building, 
and  the  whole  company  was  set  at  work  to  construct  houses.  These 
were  built  about  an  open  square,  and  were  apportioned  to  the  various 
classes  of  colonists.  The  little  village  was  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  and 
some  cannon  were  mounted  on  a  commanding  rock.  There  was  also 
a  small  chapel  where  the  Catholic  priests  officiated,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  Protestants,  and  ere  many  months  elapsed  the  little  colony  found 
ample  need  of  the  cemetery,  which  was  duly  set  apart  and  consecrated. 

The  colonists  being  housed,  Poutrincourt  sailed  again  for  France,  to 
make  preparations  for  his  own  settlement  at  Port  Royal.  Pontgrave,  who 
was  to  follow  De  Monts  from  France  with  the  other  ship  shortly  after  the 
former  sailed,  did  not  arrive,  and  the  company  had  no  choice  but  to 
remain  in  their  new  settlement.  Through  the  remainder  of  the  summer 
and  the  early  autumn  they  found  their  situation  novel  and  pleasant. 
Finishing  their  houses  and  defences,  and  collecting  wood  for  fuel,  gave 
them  occupation,  and  they  found  amusement  in  fishing  and  in  various 
games,  not  to  mention  the  continued  conflicts  of  priests  and  ministers. 


SETTLEMENT  AT  PORT  ROYAL.  63 

But  the  long  northern  winter  came,  with  its  severe  cold  and  pitiless 
storms,  its  drifting  snows  and  its  thick  ice.  Their  houses  were  ill 
adapted  to  exclude  the  cold;  and  though  they  piled  wood  upon  their  fires 
till  the  island  was  almost  devastated,  they  suffered  severely.  Even  the 
wine  froze,  so  that  it  was  dealt  out  in  solid  lumps.  Their  food  was  not 
such  as  to  preserve  health,  and  they  were  stricken  down  with  scurvy. 
Thirty-five  of  their  number  died,  and  most  of  the  others  suffered  terribly 
from  the  disease.  All  the  priests  and  ministers  died,  and  when  the 
irreverent  hirelings  buried  a  priest  and  minister  in  the  same  grave,  to  see 
if  they  would  lie  quietly  together,  the  devout  Catholics  were  sadly  scan- 
dalized, though  they  lacked  the  energy  to  prevent  it. 

Spring  at  last  brought  relief  from  the  cold,  and  a  change  of  food  re- 
stored the  survivors  to  health.  Most  of  the  company,  however,  were  utter- 
ly dispirited,  and  longed  to  get  away  from  this  rock-bound  island  back  to 
France.  But  there  was  no  vessel  in  which  to  sail,  and  they  watched  the 
sea  with  anxious  eyes  for  some  friendly  ship  to  appear.  At  last  Font- 
grave,  who  had  been  unable  to  sail  the  previous  year,  arrived  with  forty 
more  colonists,  and  there  was  great  rejoicing  among  the  long-imprisoned 
islanders. 

De  Monts,  as  well  as  his  company,  was  quite  satisfied  with  one  winter 
in  his  ill-chosen  settlement,  and  he  desired  to  find  a  more  attractive  place 
for  his  colony.  The  ever  active  Champlain,  at  once  a  daring  soldier,  an 
intrepid  navigator,  and  an  ardent  explorer,  sailed  on  a  voyage  of  explora- 
tion to  discover  the  better  site.  He  coasted  along  the  shores  of  Maine, 
and  even  as  far  as  Cape  Cod,  landing  at  various  points  and  trading  with 
the  Indians;  but  he  nowhere  found  a  place  which  invited  a  settlement,  and 
his  provisions  being  nearly  exhausted,  he  returned  to  the  St.  Croix.  De 
Monts  then  determined  to  return  to  Annapolis  harbor,  and  to  establish  his 
colony  on  the  shores  which  had  seemed  so  attractive,  although  he  had 
granted  them  to  Poutrincourt.  Everything  valuable  was  placed  on  board 
the  vessels,  and  the  whole  company ,  embarking,  sailed  across  the  broad 
bay  into  the  spacious  harbor  of  Port  Royal,  and  selected  a  pleasant  spot 
on  its  northern  shore  on  which  to  begin  anew  their  settlement.  The 
summer  was  passing,  and  no  time  was  lost  in  clearing  away  the  forest 
and  erecting  buildings.  Timber  was  abundant,  but  the  toil  in  preparing 
it  for  use  was  heavy,  and  the  work  was  slow.  Before  winter  came,  how- 


64  FRENCH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AC  AD  I  A. 

ever,  they  had  constructed  buildings  around  a  spacious  court-yard  or 
square,  into  which  a  gateway  opened  on  the  water  side.  The  whole 
structure  formed  a  sort  of  fort,  enclosed  on  all  sides,  the  passage  to  the 
shore  being  protected  by  palisades.  It  had  its  more  spacious  accommo- 
dations for  the  gentry,  with  ample  dining-hall,  and  quarters  for  the  sol- 
diers, artisans,  and  laborers  on  another  side,  while  its  kitchen,  workshop, 
storehouse,  and  magazine  filled  the  remainder  of  the  quadrangle.  Here, 
in  feudal  state  the  colony  was  established,  like  one  great  family  of  nobles 
and  retainers  in  a  castle  in  the  middle  ages. 

As  soon  as  the  houses  had  sufficiently  advanced  to  afford  shelter, 
De  Monts  sailed  for  France,  where  his  presence  was  necessary  to  pro- 
tect his  rights,  and  Pontgrave  remained  in  charge  of  the  colony.  Another 
winter  came,  with  rigors  to  which  the  colonists  were  unaccustomed. 
Again  they  suffered  severely,  but  they  had  no  lack  of  fuel,  and  around 
the  blazing  logs  they  kept  from  freezing,  and  they  were  not  decimated 
by  the  scurvy,  as  they  had  been  at  St.  Croix. 

With  spring  came  anxiety  for  news  from  France,  and  for  fresh  sup- 
plies in  their  almost  exhausted  storehouse.  But  as  the  weeks  passed 
and  still  no  ship  arrived,  affairs  began  to  wear  a  gloomy  aspect,  for  the 
colony  was  poorly  calculated  to  be  self-supporting.  At  this  stage,  Pont- 
grave set  sail,  in  two  small  vessels,  with  all  his  company  but  two,  in 
search  of  some  French  fishing  vessel,  which  might  furnish  them  with 
food.  Two  men  were  left  to  guard  the  buildings.  They  were  assisted 
in  this  care  by  an  aged  Indian,  the  chief  of  a  small  tribe  who  sojourned 
in  the  vicinity.  The  French,  always  better  disposed  towards  the  natives 
than  the  Spaniards  or  English,  had  made  friends  of  these  Indians,  and 
the  old  chief,  who,  according  to  his  own  account,  had  seen  more  than 
a  hundred  summers,  was  especially  friendly.  When  Pontgrave  sailed 
away,  he  daily  watched  for  his  return.  Twelve  days  after  the  departure 
of  the  expedition  the  vigilant  chief  descried  a  sail,  and  aroused  the 
Frenchmen  in  the  fort,  who  bravely  rushed  to  the  cannon  mounted  on 
a  bastion  at  one  corner  of  the  quadrangle,  to  defend  their  position  against 
any  hostile  ship. 

It  was  no  enemy,  however,  but  the  ship  of  Poutrincourt,  who  had 
come  with  more  colonists,  and  ample  supplies  for  the  settlement,  now 
planted  in  his  own  domain.  The  new  comers  landed,  and  soon  made 


<a 

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A   FEUDAL   CASTLE.  65 

themselves  familiar  with  their  new  home,  and  with  the  friendly  natives 
who  came  to  welcome  them.  Pontgrave's  vessels  soon  arrived,  and 
great  were  the  rejoicings  over  the  changed  aspect  of  affairs.  The  lib- 
eral stores  provided  by  De  Monts  were  landed,  and  the  company  was 
content  to  continue  their  residence  in  Acadia,  where  their  life,  while 
supplies  were  plenty,  was  an  easy  one. 

Pontgrave,  soon  returned  to  France  in  the  ship  that  had  brought  the 
new  adventurers,  and  Poutrincourt  and  Champlain  set  sail  in  a  small 
vessel  to  make  explorations  along  the  coast,  the  latter  being  by  no 
means  content  to  live  an  idle  life.  They  went  as  far  as  Cape  Cod,  where 
they  had  a  conflict  with  Indians,  and  lost  two  or  three  men  ;  and  finding 
no  place  so  attractive  as  Port  Royal,  late  in  the  autumn  they  returned. 
The  colony,  in  the  mean  time,  was  left  in  charge  of  Lescarbot,  who 
had  come  from  France  with  Poutrincourt  on  his  last  voyage.  He  was 
a  man  of  varied  accomplishments,  as  well  as  solid  merits.  He  contrived 
to  keep  the  motley  company  under  his  charge  in  good  humor,  and  he 
labored  for  the  more  lasting  welfare  of  the  colony  by  burning  the  grass 
on  the  broad  meadows  by  the  neighboring  river,  and  sowing  .wheat 
and  other  grain  for  crops  in  the  following  year,  and  by  preparing  a 
garden  near  the  fort. 

A  milder  winter  than  the  two  previous  followed,  and  the  colonists 
had  little  to  complain  of.  Their  storehouse  was  well  filled  with  food 
and  wine,  and  an  ample  supply  of  fuel  was  always  at  hand.  Deer, 
moose,  bears,  and  wild  fowls,  as  well  as  many  varieties  of  fish,  added 
to  the  luxuries  of  the  table.  Hunting  expeditions  with  the  Indians  at 
once  afforded  healthful  amusement,  employment,  and  bountiful  supplies 
of  food.  Thus .  discontent  and  scurvy  were  kept  at  bay. 

In  the  larger  building,  occupied  by  the  gentry  of  the  colony,  was  an 
ample  dining-hall,  where  Poutrincourt  and  his  friends  and  officers  sat 
at  a  table  constantly  supplied  with  good  cheer.  There,  with  Poutrin- 
court, the  feudal  lord,  were  Champlain,  the  ardent  knight-errant,  Les- 
carbot, the  troubadour  and  chronicler,  and  others  of  less  distinction, 
who  possessed,  however,  a  fair  share  of  national  vivacity.  The  daily 
noonday  meal  was  the  occasion  of  some  pleasant  pomp,  contrived  by 
the  lively  Frenchmen  to  add  zest  to  the  feast,  and  there  was  no  lack 
of  hilarity,  before  which  ennui  and  discontent  found  small  chance  of 

NO.  n.  9 


66  FRENCH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AC  AD  I  A. 

indulgence.  Indians  were  frequent  guests,  the  aged  chief  already  men- 
tioned having  almost  daily  a  seat  at  the  table,  while  less  distinguished 
warriors,  squaws,  and  children  of  the  tribe  were  disposed  about  the 
floor,  eager  to  enjoy  the  tidbits  of  French  cookery  which  were  tossed 
to  them,  and  especially  relishing  the  bread,  even  if  it  were  a  rejected 
crust.  At  night,  by  the  light  of  the  blazing  pine,  heaped  high  upon  the 
broad  stone  hearth,  Champlain  would  narrate  the  scenes  he  had  wit- 
nessed among  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies,  Lescarbot  would  im- 
provise a  poem  celebrating  the  exploits  of  his  friends,  while  the  others, 
with  song  and  jest,  contributed  a  share  to  the  amusements  of  the  even- 
ing. But  long  after  the  majority,  weary  of  song  and  story,  and  content 
with  well-filled  stomachs,  had  gone  to  rest,  Champlain  would  write  out 
the  account  of  his  voyages  and  explorations,  or  make  unskilful  drawings 
of  the  wonderful  scenes  and  objects  he  had  met  with,  while  Lescarbot 
composed  a  more  ambitious  poem,  or  prepared  the  material  for  a  his- 
tory of  New  France. 

The  humbler  portion  of  the  colony,  retainers  of  this  feudal  seigniory, 
the  soldiers,  artisans,  and  servants,  in  their  own  quarters,  without  cere- 
monial, and  with  fewer  luxuries,  enjoyed  an  abundant  supply  of  flesh 
and  fish,  and  a  liberal  measure  of  wine,  which  was  their  constant 
beverage.  At  night,  they  too,  around  their  cheerful  fires,  enjoyed  their 
pleasures,  joining  in  boisterous  games,  singing  the  rude  songs  of  the 
time,  or  recounting  the  marvellous  exploits  of  mythical  heroes. 

After  such  a  winter  the  colonists  were  well  prepared  to  enter  upon 
the  more  serious  work  of  the  settlement.  Though  originating  in  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  fur  trade,  the  organizers  of  this  colony  determined  to 
establish  it  on  a  more  permanent  and  certain  foundation  by  engaging 
the  settlers  in  agriculture.  Poutrincourt,  Champlain,  and  Lescarbot  were 
all  interested  in  this,  and  the  latter,  as  already  remarked,  had  sown 
some  patches  of  wheat  and  barley  in  the  preceding  autumn.  Spring 
revealed  the  green  blade  of  these  grains,  and  encouraged  them  to  more 
extensive  planting.  Fields  were  cleared  and  enclosed,  and  gardens  were 
laid  out,  and  in  due  time  planted.  A  mill  was  built  on  one  of  the 
many  streams  with  which  the  region  abounded,  and  various  other  meas- 
ures taken  which  betokened  a  purpose  to  establish  in  time  a  selt-sup- 
porting  colony.  With  their  fields  and  fisheries,  the  abundant  game  of 


THE   SETTLEMENT  ABANDONED.  67 

the  forest,  and  the  introduction  of  cattle,  they  would  require  only  a  par- 
tial support  from  the  company  in  France,  and  even  a  limited  fur  trade 
would  meet  the  expense.  The  prospect  was  encouraging,  and  the  lead- 
ers engaged  earnestly  in  the  work  of  establishing  the  first  agricultural 
colony  in  America,  by  their  example  inducing  the  hirelings,  who  com- 
posed the  great  body  of  the  settlers,  to  do  likewise.  But  the  fact  that 
its  sinews  were  thus  hired,  and  took  little  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
settlement,  while  they  were  a  constant  drain  upon  the  resources  of  the 
company,  exposed  it  to  failure  at  the  first  gust  of  adversity  to  the  com- 
pany. 

That  adversity  came  ere  the  spring-time  labors  of  the  colonists  were 
completed,  and  while  their  hopes  were  blossoming  like  the  trees  and 
shrubs  about  them.  A  small  vessel,  whose  arrival  as  she  sailed  up  the 
basin  was  awaited  with  pleasant  anticipations,  brought  the  disastrous 
tidings  that  the  monopoly  granted  to  De  Monts  was  rescinded,  and  that 
the  company  organized  on  the  strength  of  that  grant  was  ruined,  and 
could  no  longer  maintain  the  settlement  at  Port  Royal.  To  remain 
without  the  aid  of  the  company  to  pay  the  hired  soldiers,  artisans,  and 
laborers,  and  to  furnish  the  necessary  supplies,  seemed  impossible,  and 
nought  remained  but  to  abandon  the  settlement  and  return  to  France. 
It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  the  leaders,  who  had  recently,  with 
good  reason,  indulged  in  hopes  of  success,  and  with  many  regrets  they 
yielded  to  necessity  and  left  the  scene  of  their  labors.  But  Poutrin- 
court,  whose  title,  being  confirmed  by  the  king,  could  not  be  disturbed, 
resolved  that  he  would  renew  the  attempt  at  a  settlement  even  if  he 
were  obliged  to  bring  his  own  family  to  reside 'there. 

The  Indians,  between  whom  and  the  French  the  most  friendly  feel- 
ings existed,  were  greatly  grieved  at  the  departure;  but  they  were  in 
some  degree  consoled  by  presents  and  the  promise  of  a  speedy  return. 
They  gathered  on  the  shore,  and  bade  their  friends  farewell  with  loud 
lamentations,  as  the  boats,  laden  with  men  and  stores,  sailed  away  for 
Cape  Canseau,  where  Poutrincourt's  ship  was  still  engaged  in  fishing. 
The  dwellings,  where  the  French  had  hospitably  entertained  them,  they 
not  only  did  not  disturb,  but  watched  with  jealous  care. 


IX. 


THE    FRENCH    IN  ACADI A.  -  JESUIT    SCHEMES 
AND    ENGLISH    EXPLOITS. 


|T  was  in  1607  that  Poutrincourt  abandoned  Port  Royal, 
with  the  determination  of  returning  to  persevere  iri  estab- 
lishing a  colony  there;  but  he  met  with  many  obstacles  in 
his  endeavors  to  carry  out  his  purpose,  and  it  was  not  till 
1610  that  he  again  set  sail  from  France  for  his  domain  in 
Acadia.  With  a  small  colony,  similar  in  composition  to 
the  former  one,  after  a  long  voyage,  he  sailed  up  the  broad 
basin  of  Port  Royal,  and  anchored  before  the  buildings  abandoned  three 
years  before.  They  were  still  standing,  and  were  in  good  condition,  except 
the  roofs,  which  had  in  some  places  fallen  in,  but  could  be  readily  repaired. 
The  Indians  had  guarded  the  place  well,  and  whatever  temptation  it 
offered  them  of  comfortable  shelter,  they  had  never  occupied  it,  and 
furniture  which  had  been  left  when  the  post  was  abandoned  was  found 
undisturbed.  Always  looking  for  the  return  of  the  French,  they  hailed 
the  arrival  of  Poutrincourt  with  demonstrations  of  joy,  and  the  aged  chief, 
who  still  lived,  hastened  to  welcome  his  old  friend. 

The  colony  lacked  the  influence  and  direction  of  such  men  as 
Champlain  and  Lescarbot  to  lead  it  to  resume  the  labors  for  material 
prosperity  which  had  been  so  suddenly  brought  to  nought.  But  it 
brought  a  new  spirit,  a  desire  to  convert  the  Indians  to  Christianity, 
and  the  colony  was  no  sooner  established  in  its  new  home  than  the 
work  of  Christianizing  was  begun.  This,  however,  with  Poutrincourt, 
was  a  work  of  policy  rather  than  of  piety.  He  was  a  Catholic,  but 

68 


O 

gi 

H 

Bi 

O 

ft 


h 

CL 

n 


BAPTISM  OF   THE   INDIANS. 


69 


he  hated  bigotry  and  the  Jesuits,  and  had  fought  on  the  side  of  the 
Protestants  and  liberal  Catholics.  On  his  return  to  France  he  had 
found  that  the  king,  who  had  reached  the  throne  by  victory  over  the 
extreme  Catholics  of  the  League,  had  become  an  apostate  from  Prot- 
estantism, and  that  his  conscience  was  in  the  keeping  of  a  Jesuit.  This 
priest,  true  to  the  purposes  of  his  order,  prompted  the  king  to  demand 
that  Poutrincourt  should  take  some  Jesuits  with  him  to  carry  religion 
among  the  natives,  and  one  Pierre  Biard  was  designated  to  lead  in  this 
work.  But  the  baron  contrived  to  give  that  expectant  priest  the  slip, 
and  sailed  from  Dieppe  while  the  latter  waited  at  Bordeaux.  Poutrin- 
court, however,  was  a  good  Catholic,  and  had  no  objection  to,  if  he 
had  no  ardent  desire  for,  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  He  therefore 
took  with  him  a  priest  of  a  less  objectionable  order  to  carry  on  the  pious 
work,  hoping  thereby  to  show  that  there  was  no  need  of  Jesuits  in  his 
domain.  Accordingly  Father  La  Fleche,  as  this  priest  was  called,  at 
once  entered  upon  his  duties  of  converting  the  friendly  Indians  who 
gathered  about  the  post. 

The  aged  chief,  Membertou,  was  the  first  to  accept  Christianity  and 
be  baptized.  His  conversion  was  speedily  followed  by  that  of  his  squaws 
and  all  his  family.  The  baptism  of  this  score  of  half-naked  savages  was 
a  great  occasion,  and  was  duly  celebrated  by  the  discharge  of  cannon 
and  the  blast  of  trumpets,  and,  what  was  more  acceptable  to  the  con- 
verts, a  bountiful  feast.  The  news  of  these  remarkable  proceedings 
spread  through  the  forest,  and  the  red  men  came  in  anxious  to  em- 
brace the  new  religion,  be  baptized,  and  share  the  good  things  dis- 
pensed to  the  converts.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that 
a  baptized  Indian,  who  was  at  the  point  of  death,  anxiously  inquired 
if  they  had  as  good  pies  in  heaven  as  those  which  the  French  had 
given  him. 

Father  La  Fleche  had  his  hands  full,  but  with  brief  catechism  he  pre- 
pared his  numerous  applicants  to  renounce  the  devil,  and  be  baptized. 
He  found  an  ardent  ally  in  the  old  chief,  who,  like  the  Catholic  powers 
of  the  old  world,  would  fain  proselyte  by  force,  and  make  war  upon  all 
heretical  red  men.  But  the  inducements  offered  by  the  French  cooks 
were  more  potent  than  war-club  and  tomahawk,  and  few  Indians  within 
reach  of  the  settlement  refused  to  become  Christians. 


70  THE  FRENCH  IN  ACADIA. 

A  register  of  the  baptisms  was  duly  kept,  and  was  sent  in  charge  of 
Poutrincourt's  son  to  France,  as  evidence  that  the  saving  of  souls  was 
faithfully  and  successfully  attended  to,  and  that  there  was  little  need  of 
Jesuits  in  Acadia.  The  conversion  of  the  Indians,  with  its  various 
ceremonials,  religious,  secular,  and  gastronomic,  left  little  time  to  promote 
the  material  welfare  of  the  colony,  and  the  wise  foresight  and  industry 
which  had  promised  to  make  the  former  colony  a  permanent  and  self- 
supporting  one  were  entirely  wanting.  No  gardens  had  been  planted, 
no  fields  prepared  for  grain,  no  stock  of  fish  put  in  store.  Winter  came, 
but  there  was  no  Champlain  and  Lescarbot  present  to  devise  means  for 
supplying  the  tables  with  luxuries,  and  making  the  gloomy  days  and  long 
evenings  cheerful.  The  supply  of  provisions  was  limited,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  deal  them  out  with  a  sparing  hand.  The  spirits  of  the  men 
sank  and  discontent  prevailed,  and  they  anxiously  counted  the  days  and 
weeks,  watching  for  succor  from  France. 

Meanwhile  Poutrincourt's  son,  Biencourt,  met  with  little  success  in 
preventing  the  invasion  of  Port  Royal  by  the  Jesuits.  He  found  the  king 
had  been  assassinated,  and  the  followers  of  Loyola  more  powerful  than 
ever  at  court.  He  could  not  resist  the  demands  of  the  queen-regent 
without  incurring  the  risk  of  greater  evils  to  his  father's  interests  than 
even  the  presence  of  this  dreaded  order  of  priests.  He,  therefore,  was 
obliged  to  consent  to  take  with  him,  on  his  return  to  the  colony,  two 
members  of  the  order,  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse,  and  he  was  rewarded 
by  being  appointed  vice-admiral  in  the  waters  of  New  France.  Two 
Huguenot  merchants,  however,  who  were  .associated  with  Poutrincourt, 
refused  to  permit  the  priests  to  sail  in  their  ship.  But  this  was  a  difficulty 
which  the  Jesuits  and  their  friends  at  court  soon  overcame  by  purchasing 
the  interest  of  the  obstinate  merchants,  and  loaning  a  liberal  sum  to 
Poutrincourt  and  his  other  partners.  The  two  priests  embarked,  and 
Biencourt  again  sailed  for  Port  Royal,  carrying  in  their  presence  a  deadly 
blight  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony. 

The  colonists  hailed  with  joy  the  arrival  of  Biencourt's  ship,  for  which 
they  had  long  anxiously  watched.  They  were  in  a  half-famished  condi- 
tion, and  longed  for  the  supplies  which  he  was  expected  to  bring,  but  his 
long  voyage  of  four  months  had  reduced  the  limited  stores  with  which 
he  had  started,  and  their  visions  of  plenty  were  not  realized.  Their 


JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  ?I 

immediate  wants,  however,  were  relieved,  and  for  a  time  they  were  not 
disturbed  by  the  prospect  of  a  famine.  Poutrincourt  sailed  for  France 
in  the  ship  in  which  his  son  had  arrived,  not,  however,  till  he  had  come 
in  conflict  with  the  Jesuits,  who  lost  no  time  in  asserting  their  authority, 
and  placing  themselves  in  opposition  to  his  authority. 

Biencourt  was  left  in  charge  of  the  colony,  and  by  virtue  of  his 
office  as  vice-admiral  he  claimed  authority  over  the  trading  vessels  in  the 
waters  of  Acadia.  To  assert  this  authority,  and  to  purchase  supplies  for 
the  colony,  he  sailed  in  a  large  boat  with  a  force  of  armed  men,  and 
accompanied  by  Biard,  the  Jesuit.  When  he  took  a  party  of  traders 
prisoners,  because  they  resisted  his  authority,  Biard  remonstrated,  and 
renewed  the  conflict  which  had  been  commenced  with  Poutrincourt. 
The  young  vice-admiral  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to  the  dictation  of 
the  priest,  and  enforced  his  commands.  After  a  cruise  along  the  coast 
of  Maine  as  far  as  the  Kennebec,  he  returned  to  Port  Royal  with  little 
addition  to  the  scanty  supplies  of  the  post. 

Winter  came  again,  with  its  long,  cold,  and  dreary  months,  and  short 
rations  rendered  the  men  sullen  and  discontented.  Quarrels  were  fo- 
mented rather  than  allayed  by  the  priests,  and  instead  of  the  merry 
company  which  had  gathered  about  the  crackling  fires  a  few  years  before, 
with  song,  and  jest,  and  story,  there  were  anxiety  and  jealousy  in  the  hall 
of  the  leaders,  grumbling  and  threats  in  the  quarters  of  the  followers. 
Before  spring  came  the  colony  was  in  a  deplorable  condition. 

While  the  Jesuits  had  lost  no  time  in  making  trouble  in  the  colony, 
they  were  equally  ready  to  assume  their  task  of  converting  the  Indians. 
Masse  went  to  live  in  one  of  their  lodges,  but,  unlike  some  others  of  his 
order,  he  was  unable  to  endure  the  hardship  and  annoyances  to  which 
he  was  subjected,  and  was  glad  to  escape  from  the  cold,  smoky,  filthy 
cabin  of  the  natives,  with  its  noise  and  indecencies,  and  to  return  to  the 
settlement.  Biard  undertook  to  learn  the  Indian  language  from  one  of 
the  natives,  that  he  might  translate  the  Catechism  into  that  tongue  for  the 
saving  of  souls.  But  while  the  Indian  had  no  words  to  represent  the 
abstract  ideas  and  sacred  terms  of  the  Jesuits'  faith,  he  gave  the  credulous 
father  scurrilous  and  obscene  words  and  phrases  to  represent  sacred 
things.  When  the  priest  tried  his  Catechism,  filled  with  such  words, 
upon  other  natives,  the  effect  can  be  readily  imagined.  He  was  more 


7 2  SUCCESS   Of   THE  MISSION. 

successful  in  persuading  the  centenarian  chief,  who  died  during  the 
winter,  to  forego  his  desire  to  be  buried  with  his  fathers,  and  to  consent 
that  his  body  might  be  laid  in  consecrated  ground,  in  order  to  save  his 
soul. 

The  colony  was  once  more  reduced  almost  to  famine  before  succor 
again  arrived  from  France.  But  sooner  than  it  was  expected  a  vessel 
sent  by  Poutrincourt  sailed  up  the  bay,  and  anchored  before  the  post. 
Besides  supplies,  however,  this  vessel  brought  another  Jesuit  to  sow 
discord  in  the  settlement.  Disputes  arose  between  Biencourt  and  the 
priests,  who  were  not  disposed  to  submit  in  anything  to  his  authority. 
They  withdrew  from  the  post  and  went  on  board  the  vessel,  threatening 
to  return  to  France.  Biencourt  might  well  rejoice  to  be  rid  of  them,  but 
he  was  indignant  at  this  insubordinate  disregard  of  his  supremacy  at  Port 
Royal,  and  ordered  them  on  shore  again.  They  refused  to  obey,  and 
threatened  excommunication,  but  concluded  at  last  to  yield,  and  in  retal- 
iation refused  to  say  mass,  or  perform  any  religious  ceremony.  This 
probably  did  not  greatly  trouble  Biencourt;  and  the  fathers  finally 
relented,  and  made  peace  with  the  young  commander  on  condition  that 
the  last  comer  might  return  to  France.  The  object  of  his  mission  was  to 
secure  aid  from  zealous  friends  at  court,  by  which  they  would  be  enabled 
to  prosecute  their  special  work  of  converting  the  Indians  under  better 
auspices. 

The  mission  was  successful.  The  ladies  of  the  court,  whether  saints 
or  sinners,  were  great  admirers  of  the  Jesuits,  who  were  their  chosen 
confessors,  and  through  the  arts  of  these  priests  were  exceedingly  zealous 
for  saving  the  souls  of  the  Indians.  By  their  efforts  a  liberal  sum  was 
obtained  for  this  pious  'service,  and  a  ship  was  fitted  out  with  abundant 
supplies,  and  two  Jesuits,  who,  with  Biard  and  Masse,  should  establish  a 
mission  in  some  part  of  Acadia,  the  spiritual  dominion  over  which  had 
been  formally  granted  to  them ;  of  Biencourt  and  Port  Royal  they  were  to 
be  entirely  independent.  Great  hopes  of  the  success  of  this  expedition 
were  entertained  by  the  Jesuits  and  their  saintly  followers,  as  well  as  the 
fair  and  frail  bigots  who  aided  them,  but  they  were  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment. 

The  vessel  sailed  up  the  harbor  of  Port  Royal,  after  the  voyagers  had 
landed  at  one  or  two  other  places,  and  claimed  the  territory  for  the 


A   JESUIT  EXPEDITION.  73 

dominion  of  the  church  by  erecting  a  cross  and  saying  a  Te  Deum. 
At  the  settlement  they  found  the  two  Jesuits,  Biard  and  Masse,  with  only 
three  of  the  colonists,  the  others  being  engaged  in  scooping  alewives 
from  the  brooks  and  gathering  roots  in  the  woods  for  their  scanty  subsist- 
ence. Taking  the  two  priests  on  board,  the  voyagers  again  sailed  away 
in  search  of  a  more  favorable  place  for  the  establishment  of  the  mission, 
where  they  would  not  be  forced  to  contend  with  Biencourt.  The  priests, 
however,  found  that  they  had  to  contend  with  other  obstacles,  for  the 
sailors  were  refractory  and  mutinous.  They  at  last  landed  on  the 
shores  of  Mount  Desert,  where  they  found  the  Indians  friendly,  and  quite 
ready  to  be  baptized,  for  they  had  heard  of  the  festivities  attending 
Father  La  Fleche's  efforts  at  Port  Royal.  A  favorable  place  was 
selected  for  a  settlement,  and  amid  dissensions  the  little  colony  pitched 
their  tents  and  prepared  for  more  permanent  habitations.  But  they  had 
hardly  commenced  their  work  when  an  English  ship,  commanded  by 
one  Thomas  Argall,  a  bold  and  reckless  adventurer  from  the  colony  in 
Virginia,  appeared.  Argall  claimed  all  the  territory  as  the  domain  of  his 
king,  and  at  once  attacked  the  French  ship,  which  was  unprepared  for 
resistance.  It  was  soon  captured,  and  the  party  on  land  were  subsequent- 
ly made  prisoners.  A  part  of  them  were  turned  adrift  in  an  open  boat, 
from  which  in  time  they  were  fortunately  rescued  by  a  fishing  vessel  and 
carried  to  France;  the  others,  with  the  captured  ship,  were  taken  to 
Virginia,  and  among  these  was  Biard,  who  was  destined  still  to  be  an  evil 
spirit  to  the  colony  at  Port  Royal. 

While  the  Jesuits  were  thus  scheming,  and  preparing  for  a  new  set- 
tlement by  means  of  which  they  could  better  carry  out  their  purposes,  the 
colonists  at  Port  Royal  were  reduced  to  scanty  supplies,  and  another 
winter  of  hardship  was  endured.  Their  stores  from  France  were  nearly 
exhausted,  and  they  were  obliged  to  depend  upon  hunting  and  fishing,  in 
which  they  had  no  great  skill,  for  their  food,  and  were  glad  even  to  dig 
.roots  to  eke  out  their  daily  meals.  In  the  autumn  they  had  sown  grain, 
where  Lescarbot  had  first  set  the  example,  and  in  the  spring  they  planted 
a  few  vegetable  seeds;  but  the  harvest-time  had  not  yet  come,  and 
famine  stared  them  in  the  face.  They  watched  in  vain  for  help  from 
France,  but  Poutrincourt  was  unable  to  send  it.  His  property  was  seized 
by  the  Jesuits  to  satisfy  their  claims  for  previous  advances,  and  he  was 

NO.    II.  10 


74  JESUIT  SCHEMES  AND  ENGLISH  EXPLOITS. 

thrown  into  prison.  There  was  no  one  to  send  them  aid,  and  they  were 
left  to  shift  for  themselves. 

When  Biencourt  and  his  men  returned  to  the  post,  and  learned  that  a 
ship  from  France  had  come  in  and  again  departed  without  leaving  a 
single  package  of  biscuit  or  cask  of  wine,  well  might  they  be  filled 
with  disappointment  and  indignation.  But  doubtless  it  was  some  com- 
pensation to  be  rid  of  the  Jesuits,  whose  presence  had  been  a  constant 
shadow  on  the  peace  and  comfort  of  the  colony.  Whither  they  had 
gone,  however,  and  for  what  purpose,  were  mysteries  which  occasioned 
some  anxiety  to  Biencourt,  who  had  reason  to  believe  that  they  enter- 
tained little  love  for  him. 

Spring  passed,  and  yet  no  succor  from  France.  Summer  came,  with 
a  few  wild  fruits  and  palatable  herbs,  which  were  gladly  culled  by  the 
colonists,  who  now  anxiously  watched  the  ripening  of  their  little  fields 
of  grain.  At  last  a  ship  arrived,  —  Poutrincourt's  last  effort,  —  bringing 
supplies,  together  with  a  number  of  horses,  cattle,  and  swine.  The 
prospect  was  again  bright,  and  the  spirits  of  the  company  revived  At 
last  the  harvest  was  ripe,  and  a  band  of  reapers  was  sent  to  the  fields, 
while  Biencourt,  with  the  rest  of  his  men,  joined  the  Indians  in  a  hunt  for 
game.  With  good  cheer,  and  something  of  the  gladness  of  the  season  in 
their  native  land,  they  would  celebrate  their  first  harvest. 

While  the  entire  company  was  thus  absent  from  the  post,  three  vessels 
entered  the  basin,  and  sailed  before  a  favoring  wind  towards  its  northern 
shores,  where  the  post  was  situated.  They  did  not  come  with  aid  from 
France,  under  the  folds  of  the  banner  emblazoned  with  the  fleur  de  Us, 
but  bore  the  flag  of  England,  and  came  with  no  peaceful  errand.  They 
were  commanded  by  Argall,  and  had  on  board  the  Jesuits  Biard  and 
Quentin,  and  other  prisoners,  whom  that  buccaneer  had  captured  on  a 
former  expedition  near  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  Biard  had  made  known  the  existence  of  the  French  colony 
at  Port  Royal,  and  had  directed  the  English  adventurer  to  the  place.  He 
entertained  no  friendly  feelings  towards  Biencourt,  though  he  had  dissem- 
bled successfully  while  the  expedition  to  establish  a  Jesuit  mission  was  in 
preparation. 

As  soon  as  the  vessels  came  to  anchor  before  the  post,  Argall  landed 
a  party  of  armed  men,  and  entered  the  vacant  fort.  Here  was  great 


AN  ENGLISH  RAID. 


75 


good  fortune  —  booty  without  a  conflict  to  obtain  it.  Without  delay  the 
men  were  set  at  work;  the  storehouse  was  emptied  of  its  contents,  the 
magazine  of  its  ammunition,  the  chambers  of  whatever  was  worth 
removing;  the  cannon  were  taken  from  the  bastion;  even  the  latches  and 
bolts  of  the  doors  were  torn  off;  and  all  this  plunder  was  carried  on  board 
the  ships.  Then  the  horses  and  cattle  were  taken  from  the  adjoining 
fields,  and  also  transferred  to  the  ships.  When  this  labor  was  accom- 
plished, the  torch  was  applied  to  the  buildings,  and  they  were  entirely 
consumed. 

Meanwhile  another  party,  conducted  by  Biard,  who  alone  knew  the 
country,  proceeded  up  the  river  in  boats  to  the  fields  where  the  reapers 
were  at  work.  Alarmed  at  the  appearance  of  boats  with  armed  men,  the 
harvesters  fled  to  the  woods,  and  the  marauders  set  fire  to  the  ripened 
grain,  which  was  speedily  consumed  by  the  swift-moving  flames.  Biard 
attempted  to  parley  with  the  Frenchmen,  who  saw  with  dismay  their 
highly-prized  harvest  thus  wantonly  destroyed.  He  tried  to  induce  them 
to  desert  Biencourt;  but  they  had  no  greater  regard  for  the  Jesuit  than 
their  leader,  and  threatened  to  despatch  him  if  he  did  not  retire.  Finding 
his  efforts  vain,  the  priest  rejoined  the  English,  and  they  returned  to  the 
ships. 

Before  Argall  was  ready  to  weigh  anchor  and  sail  away  from  the 
scene  of  his  marauding  exploit,  Biencourt  and  his  men  returned.  As 
through  the  openings  in  the  forest  they  saw  the  smoke,  and  at  last, 
emerging  into  the  clearing,  found  their  habitations  a  heap  of  smoulder- 
ing ruins,  their  mingled  feelings  of  dismay  and  anger  may  well  be  im- 
agined. Just  as  their  hopes  had  been  raised  by  substantial  supplies  and 
the  prospect  of  a  fair  harvest,  everything  was  swept  away,  and  they 
were  plunged  into  irretrievable  ruin.  They  were  powerless  to  attempt 
revenge;  their  cannon  and  ammunition  were  gone,  and  they  were  out- 
numbered by  the  robbers. 

Biencourt,  learning  from  the  reapers  that  Biard  was  among  the  as-" 
sailants,  could  not  fail  to  attribute  the  disaster'  to  him.  He  tried  to 
induce  Argall  and  some  of  his  officers  to  land,  hoping,  doubtless,  that 
the  priest  would  accompany  them,  and  all  might  be  taken  prisoners. 
But  Argall  was  too  wary,  and  the  Frenchman  then  asked  for  an  inter- 
view, word  of  honor  being  exchanged  that  no  hostile  act  should  be 


76  JESUIT  SCHEMES  AND  ENGLISH  EXPLOITS. 

committed.  The  Englishman  came  on  shore,  and  the  interview  took 
place.  Enraged  at  the  dastardly  act  which  had  ruined  him,  and  which 
he  attributed  to  the  treachery  of  the  Jesuits,  Biencourt  denounced  Biard 
as  a  deserter  and  traitor,  and  demanded  that  he  should  be  delivered 
up  to  him,  frankly  avowing  that  as  soon  as  he  got  him  in  his  power 
he  would  hang  him.  But  Argall,  however  much  he  may  have  detested 
the  Jesuits,  was  too  much  beholden  to  Biard  for  his  good  luck  to  deal 
so  treacherously  with  him,  and  he  refused.  The  interview  was  stormy, 
and  productive  of  no  good.  Argall  returned  to  his  ship,  and  soon 
weighed  anchor  and  departed,  leaving  the  plundered  colonists  to  watch 
his  receding  sails  with  sullen  and  impotent  anger. 

The  colonists  were  now  reduced  to  greater  extremity  than  ever  be- 
fore. They  were  houseless  and  without  supplies;  they  had  no  powder 
except  the  little  they  carried  with  them  to  the  woods;  most  of  their 
tools  and  cooking  utensils  were  carried  away  or  destroyed;  they  had 
no  means  of  leaving  the  place  to  seek  aid  from  fishing  vessels  or  fur 
traders,  and  there  was  no  hope  of  further  help  from  France  before 
another  year.  Biencourt,  however,  was  brave  and  determined,  and  he 
encouraged  his  dejected  followers  to  bear  up  under  their  misfortunes. 
They  constructed  a  temporary  shelter  of  huts  as  best  they  could  with 
the  few  tools  they  had,  and  made  such  preparation  as  their  circum- 
stances permitted  for  the  winter.  But  to  provide  food  for  their  daily 
wants  was  no  small  matter,  and  to  obtain  even  a  limited  supply  for 
the  long,  dreary  months  that  must  elapse  before  they  could  hope  for 
relief,  was  impossible.  As  the  cold  storms  drove  the  wild  fowl  south- 
ward from  their  summer  breeding-places,  the  colonists  were  able  to 
obtain  a  sufficiency  of  food;  but  when  the  season  advanced,  the  fowl 
became  scarce,  and  they  were  obliged  to  resort  to  nuts,  acorns,  roots, 
and  even  the  buds  of  trees,  while  a  few  fish,  and  small  animals  trapped 
occasionally,  afforded  a  more  substantial,  though  not  abundant,  varia- 
tion of  their  miserable  fare.  Ammunition  did  not  hold  out  for  the  hunt- 
ing of  larger  game,  and  they  had  not  the  skil}  of  the  Indians  in  cap- 
turing the  animals  that  ranged  through  the  depths  of  the  forest.  From 
the  Indians  themselves,  as  needy  as  the  colonists,  they  could  obtain 
little  or  no  assistance.  Half  famished,  and  miserable  in  mind  and  body, 
they  crouched  around  their  fires,  after  a  weary  day  in  the  pursuit  of 


THE  LITTLE   COLONT  SURVIVES.  77 

food,  or  went   to    shiver   on    their  beds  of  evergreen  boughs    and    dry 
leaves. 

At  last  the  dreary  winter  passed,  and  the  unfortunate  colonists, 
though  wasted  and  weak,  had  lived  through  it.  Early  in  the  spring, 
Poutrincourt  came  once  more  to  look  after  his  colony.  He  found  the 
post,  which  had  sheltered  the  company  for  whose  welfare  he  had  so 
earnestly  labored,  in  ashes;  and  unable,  with  his  exhausted  means,  to 
rebuild  and  start  anew,  he  felt  that  he  must  abandon  an  enterprise 
which  had  cost  him  so  much,  and  of  which  he  had  indulged  such 
hopes.  Biencourt,  however,  did  not  despair,  and  a  sufficient  number 
of  men  were  willing  to  remain  with  him.  He  had  become  attached  to 
the  country,  and  the  life  of  freedom  which  he  led,  even  with  all  its 
hardships,  had  more  attractions  for  him  than  the  comforts  of  a  life  in 
France  with  all  its  contentions.  With  the  supplies  which  his  father 
brought  he  determined  to  make  another  trial,  while  Poutrincourt  re- 
turned to  France  for  the  last  time. 

*• 

Biencourt  and  his  men  now  built  new  habitations  of  more  moderate 
dimensions  than  the  spacious  quadrangle  which  had  been  destroyed,  and 
sowed  grain  again  in  the  fields  where  their  first  harvest  had  been  con- 
sumed. They  were  able  to  reap  their  scanty  harvest  undisturbed,  and 
in  the  following  winter  had  a  small  store  of  grain,  peas,  and  beans, 
which,  with  such  game  and  fish  as  they  could  secure,  afforded  them  a 
moderate  subsistence.  Left  to  their  own  resources,  and  having  little 
hope  of  further  help  from  France,  they  engaged,  in  an  unmethodical 
way,  in  labors  which  should  insure  support.  By  trapping  and  bartering 
with  the  Indians  they  collected  furs,  which  they  bartered  again  for  sup- 
plies with  the  fur  traders,  whose  vessels  began  soon  to  frequent  the  basin. 
Fur  traders,  indeed,  set  up  their  temporary  establishments  on  the  shores 
which  had  been  granted  to  Poutrincourt;  but  his  son  was  powerless  to 
prevent  them,  even  were  he  so  disposed.  Fishing  vessels  resorted  to 
the  harbor  for  repairs,  affording  opportunities  to  secure  some  supplies. 
These  visitors  carried  back  to  France  a  favorable  account  of  the  har- 
bor, and  the  pleasant  region  about  it,  and  in  time  a  few  more  adven- 
turers came  to  settle  in  "  the  forest  primeval."  By  slow  degrees  other 
colonists  followed  with  their  families,  and  a  little  French  village  grew 


78  JESUIT  SCHEMES  AND  ENGLISH  EXPLOITS. 

up,  where  the  customs  of  their  native  provinces  were  long  pre- 
served, — 

"And  over  the  roofs  of  the  village 

Columns  of  pale  blue  smoke,  like  clouds  of  incense  ascending, 
Rose  from  a  hundred  hearths,  the  homes  of  peace  and  contentment." 

The  Jesuits  who  had  blighted  the  prospects  of  the  earlier  colony  at 
Port  Royal  were  engaged  in  other  fields,  but  the  village  had  its  little 
church  and  its  pious  cure, — 

"And  the  children 

Paused  in  their  play  to  kiss  the  hand  he  extended  to  bless  them. 
Reverend  walked  he  among  them ;   and  up  rose  matrons  and  maidens, 
Hailing  his  slow  approach  with  words  of  affectionate  welcome." 

Other  settlements  followed  in  various  parts  of  Acadia,  the  colonists 
devoting  themselves  chiefly  to  agricultural  pursuits,  and  living  a  life  of 
"  peace  and  contentment."  They  continued  to  grow  slowly,  preserving 
their  primitive  customs  and  habits,  until  by  the  fortunes  of  war  they 
were  transferred  to  the  dominion  of  England,  and  the  names  of  Port 
Royal  and  Acadia  were  blotted  from  the  map.  A  still  greater  misfor- 
tune befell  their  descendants  when  they  were  ruthlessly  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  English,  their  houses  burned,  and  their  crops  de- 
stroyed, families  separated  never  again  to  be  reunited,  and  they  were 
crowded  into  transports  to  be  carried  away  and  scattered  among  strangers 
in  the  English  colonies, — 

"When  on  the  falling  tide  the  freighted  vessels  departed, 
Bearing  a  nation,  with  all  its  household  gods,  into  exile,  — 
Exile  without  an  end,  and  without  an  example  in  story." 


CHAMPLAIN    IN   CANADA. 


HILE  Poutrincourt's  colony  was  struggling  against  its 
misfortunes,  Champlain  engaged  in  a  new  enterprise  for 
the  establishment  of  a  colony  on  the  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  the  exploration  of  the  vast  region  from 
which  it  receives  its  waters.  After  the  abandonment  of 
Port  Royal  by  the  first  colony,  Champlain  had  returned  to 
France;  and  thirsting  for  new  adventures,  he  enlisted  the 
Sieur  De  Monts  in  a  scheme,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
establish  a  colony  at  some  point  on  the  St.  Lawrence  that  should  control 
the  fur  trade  and  close  the  river  against  intruders,  while  he  could  explore 
the  interior,  and  perhaps  discover  a  northern  passage  by  water  to  the  East 
Indies.  More  than  this,  he  had  at  heart  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
and  the  saving  of  their  souls  —  a  purpose  which  he  entertained  and 
carried  out  with  more  zeal  than  consistency. 

De  Monts  obtained  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1608  fitted  out  two  ships,  in  one  of  which  Champlain  had  charge  of  a 
company  of  colonists,  while  in  the  other  Pontgrave  was  to  engage  in  the 
barter  for  furs,  and  thus,  it  was  hoped,  meet  the  expenses  of  the  expedi- 
tion. Early  in  June  the  two  vessels  reached  Tadoussac,  which  had 
already  become  the  resort  of  adventurous  fur  traders.  There  Pontgravu 
remained  to  trade .  with  Indians  who  came  down  the  Saguenay  in  their 
canoes  laden  with  furs,  and  Champlain,  after  settling  a  difficulty  with  an 
interloping  Basque  trader,  proceeded  farther  up  the  river,  and  selected  as 
a  place  for  settlement  a  spot  near  the  point  formed  by  the  conjunction 

79 


8o  CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 

of  the  St.  Charles  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  under  the  rocky  and  precipitous 
Heights  of  Abraham,  where  the  lower  town  of  Quebec  has  since  been 
built.  The  strip  of  land  between  the  base  of  the  cliffs  and  the  river  was 
then  covered  with  woods,  and  in  the  fervid  summer  sun  its  shade  and 
verdure  offered  a  pleasant  contrast  to  the  bare  rocks  above,  while  these 
in  winter  promised  a  protection  from  the  bitter  northern  blasts.  It  was, 
moreover,  at  a  point  where  the  river  narrowed,  and  made  it  a  strong 
place  for  defence  and  the  control  of  the  waters  and  country  above.  The 
importance  of  the  position  has  been  proved  in  its  subsequent  history. 

The  trees  fell  fast  before  the  axes  of  the  pioneers,  and  soon  a  spa- 
cious clearing  was  made,  in  which  was  built  the  fort,  always  the  first 
home  of  the  settlers  at  that  period.  It  consisted  of  a  strong  wall  of  pali- 
sades, surrounded  by  a  moat,  and  having  a  gallery  along  the  top,  from 
which  small  arms  could  be  used  through  frequent  loopholes,  while  two 
or  three  cannon  were  mounted  on  the  side  towards  the  river.  Within 
the  enclosure  three  large  wooden  buildings,  with  high,  thatched  roofs, 
were  erected  about  a  court-yard,  affording  quarters  for  Champlain  and 
his  men.  As  if  to  give  it  a  home-like  look,  a  dove-cote  was  built  upon 
the  trunk  of  a  lofty  pine  tree  on  one  side  of  the  court-yard,  and  kennels 
for  dogs  were  provided  below.  Outside  of  the  enclosure  Champlain, 
who  delighted  in  horticulture  as  well  as  exploration,  laid  out  gardens 
for  fruit  and  vegetables,  as  well  as  small  patches  of  grain.  This  work 
occupied  the  summer,  and  was  not  wholly  completed  before  the  winter 
came. 

Ere  the  summer  passed,  however,  the  enterprise  came  near  a  sudden 
termination,  by  a  plot  among  some  of  the  men  to  murder  Champlain,  and 
deliver  the  post  into  the  hands  of  Basque  and  Spanish  fur  traders.  The 
company,  as  usual,  was  composed,  in  part  at  least,  of  a  class  of  reckless 
men,  ready  for  any  evil  deed  which  might  promise  immediate  advantage. 
One  Duval,  with  two  or  three  others,  had  hatched  the  conspiracy,  and  by 
promises  and  threats  had  induced  most  of  the  others  to  join  in  it.  One 
of  these,  stung  by  his  conscience,  revealed  the  plot  to  a  faithful  follower 
of  Champlain,  who  was  thus  informed  of  his  danger,  and  took  prompt 
steps  to  avert  it.  By  a  ruse,  the  ringleaders  were  induced  to  go  at  night 
on  board  a  small  vessel  in  the  river,  where  they  were  at  once  arrested. 
The  rest  of  the  company  were  suddenly  awakened  and  informed  that  the 


WINTER  AT  QUEBEC.  8 1 

conspiracy  was  discovered,  and  that  Duval  and  his  accomplices  were 
arrested.  Terrified  at  the  consequences  of  their  treachery,  they  gladly 
promised  fidelity  upon  being  pardoned,  and  they  were  confirmed  in  their 
fears,  if  not  their  good  behavior,  when  the  next  day  they  saw  Duval's 
body  hanging  on  a  gibbet.  His  accomplices  were  sent  in  chains  to 
France,  where  they  were  condemned  to  the  galleys. 

When  autumn  came  Pontgrave  sailed  for  France  with  his  furs,  and 
Champlain  was  left  with  his  little  colony  of  twenty-eight  men  to  winter 
at  Quebec.  The  forests  for  a  brief  season  put  on  their  gorgeous  array 
of  brilliant  leaves,  and  the  sombre  gray  of  winter  soon  followed.  Leaden 
clouds  came  sweeping  from  the  north,  and  the  frozen  ground  was  whi- 
tened with  snows.  In  the  earlier  part  of  that  long  and  dreary  season 
Champlain  found  occupation  for  his  men  in  finishing  their  dwellings  and 
providing  a  supply  of  fuel  for  their  fires.  Around  their  blazing  logs, 
doubtless,  the  men,  like  all  rough  adventurers,  found  pleasure  iu  rude 
games  and  ribald  jest  and  song,  and  while  health  continued  they  were 
not  likely  to  be  cast  down.  The  commander  himself,  with  no  associate 
•with  whom  he  could  discourse  on  subjects  of  mutual  interest,  found 
diversion  in  trapping  foxes  and  martens,  while  his  active  mind  was  laying 
plans  for  exploring  the  rivers  for  a  new  passage  to  the  Indies,  and  devising 
means  by  which  the  savages  might  be  converted,  and  held  under  the 
dominion  of  France.  He  held  such  communion  as  he  could  with  the 
chiefs  of  the  roving  bands  of  Indians  who  encamped  near  the  fort,  seeking 
always  some  knowledge  of  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  especially  of 
any  great  waters  at  the  north,  and  he  secured  promises  of  their  aid  in 
making  his  projected  explorations. 

The  monotony  of  winter  life  in  the  fort  was  somewhat  varied  by  the 
visits  of  these  roving  bands.  They  belonged  to  a  tribe  that  made  no 
attempt  at  agriculture,  and  had  no  permanent  villages,  like  the  Hurons 
and  Iroquois,  to  whom  they  were  much  inferior  in  the  higher  character- 
istics of  the  savage.  They  wandered  about  the  wilderness,  securing 
subsistence  by  the  chase  and  fisheries,  and  housed  only  in  portable  tents 
of  bark  spread  upon  poles.  When  the  fur  traders  came,  they  learned  to 
collect  a  few  skins  to  barter  for  knives  and  trinkets.  In  the  summer  they 
roved  where  they  could  best  find  game,  and  in  the  autumn  they  some- 
times laid  in  a  small  store  of  eels,  which  they  dried  for  their  winter's  food. 

NO.    III.  1 1 


82  CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 

When  they  had  a  plenty  they  gorged  themselves  with  half-cooked  food, 
but  often  in  the  winter  they  were  reduced  to  dire  extremity,  when  they 

"  Sought  for  bird  or  beast  and  found  none, 
Saw  no  track  of  deer  or  rabbit, 
In  the  snow  beheld  no  footprints, 
In  the  ghastly,  gleaming  forest 
Fell,  and  could  not  rise  from  weakness, 
Perished  there  from  cold  and  hunger." 

One  day,  towards  the  end  of  winter,  when  the  snows  were  still  deep 
in  the  forest,  and  the  river  was  full  of  drifting  masses  of  ice,  a  band  of 
these  miserable  and  famished  savages  appeared  on  the  shore  opposite 
Quebec.  Half-starved  and  worn  to  skeletons  by  their  long  fasts  and 
hardships,  they  saw  in  the  settlement  a  chance  for  food,  and,  rendered 
desperate  by  famine,  in  spite  of  the  danger  which  threatened  them  with 
death  in  the  icy  waters,  they  launched  their  canoes,  and  hunters,  squaws, 
and  children  hurried  into  them.  For  a  space  they  paddled  dexterously 
and  safely  between  the  cakes  of  ice,  but  when  midway  in  the  river  their 
frail  canoes  were  crushed  by  crowding  masses,  and  it  seemed  to  the 
French,  who  were  looking  on  in  wonder  at  their  temerity,  that  they  were 
lost.  But  with  an  agility  born  of  desperation,  they  leaped  upon  huge 
cakes  of  ice,  and  set  up  a  mournful  wail  in  view  of  the  certain  death 
which  seemed  to  await  them.  Fortunately  for  them,  however,  the  masses 
of  ice  soon  became  packed  together  against  the  northern  shore,  so  that 
they  were  enabled  to  reach  the  land.  They  soon  appeared  at  the  fort, 
and  by  their  emaciated  appearance,  as  well  as  by  words  and  signs, 
appealed  to  the  French  for  food.  Champlain  ordered  a  supply  to  be 
brought  out  to  them,  but  it  was  no  easy  task  to  deal  it  among  them  with 
anything  like  justice,  so  ravenously  did  they  seize  whatever  came  with- 
in their  reach,  regardless  of  each  other's  want.  Not  satisfied  with  the 
bounty  bestowed  upon  them,  they  pounced  upon  the  carcass  of  a  dog, 
which  Champlain  had  left  for  two  months  upon  the  snow  as  a  bait  for 
foxes,  and  breaking  it  into  fragments  devoured  the  carrion  with  sick- 
ening avidity. 

Before  the  winter  passed,  the  French  were  reduced  to  a  condition 
even  more  miserable  than  that  of  the  famished  Indians;  not  for  want 


FAMISHED    INDIANS    SEEKING    FOOD    AT    QUEBEC. 


CHAMPLAIN  JOINS   THE  INDIANS  IN   WAR.  83 

of  food,  but  because  of  the  kind  of  food  and  an  unwonted  climate.  They 
were  afflicted  with  the  scurvy,  which  attacked  nearly  the  whole  com- 
pany, except  Champlain,  leaving  few  able  to  nurse  the  helpless  sick. 
Under  it  they  sank  one  after  another,  and  were  carried  out  to  the  place 
set  apart  for  burial,  until  only  eight  of  the  twenty-eight  were  left  alive. 
When  spring  at  last  came,  and  the  snows  departed,  Champlain,  with 
these  few  survivors,  most  of  whom  were  weak  and  miserable  from  the 
disease,  watched  anxiously  for  a  ship  from  France,  and  great  was  their 
relief  when  at  last  they  learned  that  Pontgrave  had  again  arrived  at 
Tadoussac. 

The  interest  of  the  early  settlement  of  Quebec  centres  in  Cham- 
plain.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  colony,  and  his  care  and  energy 
preserved  its  existence,  to  become  the  base  from  which  the  dominion 
of  France  was  extended  gradually  to  the  great  lakes,  and  thence  to  the 
Mississippi.  But  by  temperament  he  was  an  adventurer,  and  his  am- 
bition was  to  make  explorations  and  discoveries  rather  than  to  regulate 
the  humdrum  life  of  a  sluggish  colony.  When-  Pontgrave  arrived,  he 
hastened  to  put  in  execution  the  plans  which  during  the  long  winter  he 
had  turned  in  his  ever-active  mind. 

During  the  previous  autumn  a  chief  of  the  Algonquins,  who  inhab- 
ited a  region  beyond  the  Ottawa  River,  had  visited  Quebec,  and  im- 
pressed with  the  power  of  the  white  men,  who  could  deal  out  thun- 
derbolts from  their  arquebuses,  he  had  solicited  the  aid  of  Champlain 
against  the  enemies  of  his  tribe.  Ready  for  adventure,  and  hoping  thus 
to  obtain  an  influence  with  the  Indians  which  should  promote  his  ob- 
jects, Champlain  agreed  to  meet  the  Algonquins  and  their  Huron  allies 
in  the  spring,  and  join  them  in  an  expedition  against  the  warlike  Iro- 
quois,  or  Five  Nations,  who  inhabited  the  region  south  of  Lake  Onta- ' 
rio,  and  who  formed  a  remarkable  and  formidable  confederacy,  the 
terror  of  all  the  surrounding  tribes.  It  was  a  daring  piece  of  knight- 
errantry,  which  secured  for  the  French  the  friendship  of  the  more  north- 
ern tribes,  and  the  lasting  enmity  of  their  foes.  Champlain  could  not 
then  see  the  results  of  such  an  adventure,  but  they  extended  through 
many  years  and  much  bloodshed. 

Leaving  Pontgrave  in  charge  of  the  settlement  at  Quebec,  Cham- 
plain  with  eleven  men  started  in  a  boat  to  meet  his  Indian  allies.  He 


84 


CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 


soon  found  them  on  the  banks  of  the  river  feasting,  and  dancing  war- 
dances,  and  threatening  terrible  punishment  upon  their  enemies.  When 
these  preliminary  ceremonies  were  concluded,  the  Indians  embarked  in 
their  canoes,  and  the  French  in  their  boat,  and  proceeded  up  the  river 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Scrndle.  After  a  halt  and  another  period  of  feast- 
ing and  dancing,  they  again  advanced  up  the  last-named  river,  but 
coming  to  rapids  which  could  not  be  ascended  with  the  boat,  Cham- 
plain,  who  had  begun  to  be  disgusted  with  his  savage  allies,  sent  the 
boat  back  with  all  but  two  of  his  men,  with  whom  he  agreed  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  canoes  of  the  Indians.  A  disaffection  had  also  arisen  among 
the  latter,  and  a  part  of  them  had  abandoned  the  expedition.  With 
those  who  were  still  eager  for  the  war-path  Champlain  and  his  two 
followers  advanced.  The  Indians  shouldered  their  canoes,  and  moved 
through  the  forest,  since  even  their  light  barks  could  not  be  forced  up 
the  foaming  current.  When  they  reached  smoother  water  the  canoes 
were  again  launched,  and  the  party  paddled  leisurely  along  the  river 
between  dense  forests  abounding  in  game,  while  a  portion  of  the  war- 
riors hunted  for  the  subsistence  of  the  whole.  At  night  the  canoes  were 
drawn  up  on  the  shore,  a  barricade  of  felled  trees  was  made,  and  under 
extemporized  tents  of  bark  the  warriors  slept.  Thus  they  proceeded  for 
several  days,  till  they  reached  deeper  channels  and  broader  expanses 
of  water,  and  at  last  came  out  upon  the  lake  which  now  bears  the 
name  of  Champlain,  who  "was  the  first  European  to  behold  it. 

The  enemy,  of  whom  they  were  in  pursuit,  dwelt  far  to  the  south 
and  west,  though  they  frequently  fished  in  these  waters,  and  hunted  in 
the  adjacent  forests  that  stretched  away  to  the  Adirondacks.  Lest  they 
should  meet  with  a  wandering  party  of  hunters  or  warriors,  the  allies 
now  rested  by  day,  pulling  their  canoes  up  on  the  shore,  and  ad- 
vanced cautiously  in  the  night.  They  had  proceeded  in  this  way  but  a 
few  nights  when  they  saw  some  dark  objects  moving  on  the  water.  Im- 
mediately fierce  war-cries  arose  from  both  parties,  and  were  echoed 
back  from  the  woody  shores,  but  there  was  no  movement  for  attack 
by  either  side.  The  Iroquois  paddled  to  the  shore,  and  landed,  still 
making  night  hideous  with  their  cries  of  defiance.  On  the  shore  they 
went  to  work  vigorously,  cutting  down  trees  with  their  rude  hatchets, 
and  constructing  a  barricade  for  defence.  The  allies,  in  the  mean  time, 


CO 

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E 


CHAMPLAIN  THE  INDIAN  FIGHTER.  85 

remained  in  their  canoes,  beyond  bow  shot,  till  morning,  responding 
fiercely  to  the  war-cries  of  their  enemies.  At  daybreak  they  retired  a 
little  farther,  and  landed,  preparatory  to  an  attack. 

The  Iroquois,  seeing  the  allies  on  shore,  did  not  wait  to  be  attacked, 
but  at  once  moved  out  of  their  barricade,  eager  to  commence  the  fight. 
They  were  some  two  hundred  in  number,  and  the  most  formidable  war- 
riors of  the  forest.  Completely  armed  with  the  rude  weapons  of  the 
savage,  they  also  carried  shields  of  wood  and  hides,  and  wore  breast- 
plates of  twigs  woven  with  leathern  thongs.  The  advance  of  these  stout 
warriors,  under  the  lead  of  their  renowned  chiefs,  caused  the  allies  some 
alarm,  however  eager  for  the  battle  and  defiant  in  their  cries,  and  they 
called  upon  Champlain  and  his  countrymen  to  come  to  the  front  with 
their  thunderbolts. 

Champlain  wore  the  armor  still  in  use  at  that  period  —  a  steel  cui- 
rass, plates  of  steel  upon  his  thighs,  and  a  plumed  casque  of  the  same 
metal  on  his  head.  He  was  armed  with  his  sword  and  arquebuse.  The 
other  two  Frenchmen  wore  similar  armor,  without  the  marks  of  distinc- 
tion, and  were  armed  in  like  manner.  Confident  in  himself  and  his 
arms,  Champlain  readily  complied  with  the  demands  of  his  allies,  and 
as  they  opened  their  ranks  he  advanced  to  the  front.  His  sudden  and 
strange  appearance,  like  some  warrior  of  a  superior  order  of  beings, 
caused  the  Iroquois  to  halt  for  a  moment  in  amazement.  But  as  their 
cry  of  defiance  again  arose,  he  levelled  his  arquebuse  and  fired.  Two 
of  the  Iroquois  chiefs  fell  dead,  and  the  others  were  terrified  at  the  loud 
report,  while  the  allies  sent  a  shower  of  arrows  upon  their  astonished 
foes.  These  familiar  weapons  seemed  to  restore  the  courage  of  the  Iro- 
quois, and  they  returned  the  shower  of  arrows  bravely.  But  the  other 
two  Frenchmen  were  posted  on  either  flank  of  the  allies,  and  when  they 
discharged  their  arquebuses  with  deadly  effect  and  deafening  noise,  the 
enemy  fled  in  terror  before  these  strange  warriors,  who  had  come  with 
the  lightning  and  thunder  of  the  clouds.  Swiftly  the  excited  allies  pur- 
sued, with  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife,  and  many  of  the  flying  Iroquois, 
who  in  their  fear  had  thrown  away  their  arms,  were  killed  or  captured. 
The  victory  was  as  complete  as  savage  victories  usually  were,  but  it  had 
been  won  by  Champlain  and  his  two  countrymen. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  war-path,  and  the  allies,  rejoicing  in  their 


86  CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 

success,  embarked  in  their  canoes,  and  hastened  homewards  with  their 
trophies  and  their  captives.  Champlain  had  redeemed  the  promise  he 
had  given,  but  when  he  parted  with  the  savage  rabble  he  had  served 
so  well,  they  besought  him  to  visit  their  lodges,  and  join  them  in  an- 
other war.  Ready  for  adventure  against  a  foe  for  whom  he  seemed  to 
have  contempt,  and  hoping  to  promote  his  cherished  objects,  he  prom- 
ised to  do  so  at  a  future  time.  This  promise,  too,  he  afterwards  re- 
deemed; but  now  the  interest  of  the  colony  at  Quebec  demanded  his 
care,  and  soon  after  reaching  the  settlement  he  sailed  with  Pontgrave 
for  France. 

On  arriving  in  France,  Champlain  found  that  De  Monts,  who  had 
borne  the  expense  of  establishing  the  settlement  at  Quebec,  was  unable 
to  obtain  a  renewal  of  his  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade,  and  consequently 
numerous  traders  prepared  to  compete  for  that  trade,  the  wealth  of  which 
was  greatly  exaggerated  in  France.  De  Monts  determined  to  join  in 
this  competition,  hoping,  with  Champlain's  aid,  to  secure  advantages 
which  others  could  not.  With  further  supplies  and  more  men  Cham- 
plain  returned  to  Quebec,  in  the  ship  of  De  Monts,  the  next  year  (1610)  ; 
but  other  traders  were  already  in  the  river  securing  the  treasures  which 
De  Monts  had  counted  upon  to  repay  him  for  his  heavy  expenses. 

Champlain  at  once  determined  to  visit  his  Indian  allies,  as  he  had 
promised,  hoping,  by  laying  them  under  obligations,  not  only  to  carry 
out  his  projected  explorations,  but  to  obtain  advantages  for  his  associate 
in  the  way  of  trade.  Proceeding  up  the  river  in  a  boat,  he  found  one 
of  the  Indian  tribes  near  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu,  awaiting  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins,  who  were  to  join  them  on  the  war- 
path against  the  Iroquois.  While  with  feast  and  war-dance  they  were 
preparing  to  receive  their  allies,  and  go  to  battle,  two  Indians  came 
paddling  swiftly  down  the  river,  and  announced  that  the  Algonquins 
were  fighting  a  band  of  Iroquois  in  the  forest  not  far  distant.  With 
wild  and  savage  cries  the  Indians  hastened  to  their  canoes,  and  paddled 
away  to  join  in  the  fight,  followed  by  Champlain  and  four  of  his  men. 
Landing  again,  the  fleet-footed  Indians  soon  left  the  Frenchmen  behind, 
to  find  their  way  as  best  they  could  through  thicket  and  swamp,  guided 
only  by  the  cries  of  the  excited  savages. 

Reaching  at  last  the  scene  of  the  combat,  Champlain  found  his  allies 


ADVENTURERS  IN  THE   ST.   LAWRENCE.  87 

had  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  on  the  Iroquois,  who  were  fighting 
behind  a  barricade  of  felled  trees.  The  arrival  of  the  Frenchmen  was 
hailed  with  loud  shouts  of  exultation,  and  fiercer  war-whoops  for  the 
benefit  of  the  besieged  Iroquois.  The  Frenchmen  soon  joined  in  the 
conflict,  and  with  their  arquebuses  carried  death  and  terror  among  the 
savage  foes.  Champlain  also  directed  his  allies  how  to  make  the  attack, 
and  while  one  party  bravely  rushed  up  to  the  barricade,  and  pulled  away 
the  thick  branches  and  trunks,  another  party,  with  whom  were  the  steel- 
clad  white  men  with  their  arquebuses,  made  a  sudden  assault  which 
Bended  the  contest.  The  French  thunderbolts,  added  to  Indian  arrows 
and  war-clubs,  were  too  much  for  the  Iroquois,  though  they  fought  with 
desperate  bravery,  and  the  whole  party,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
who  were  captured,  fell  in  defence  of  their  barricade.  To  Champlain 
and  his  fire-arms  the  allies  again  owed  the  victory  over  their  dreaded 
foes. 

Instead  of  going  with  the  Indians  to  their  homes,  whither  they 
hastened  with  their  captives  and  their  trophies,  Champlain  returned  to 
Quebec,  abandoning  for  the  time  his  purpose  of  exploring  the  interior 
of  the  country.  The  numerous  fur  traders  who  had  come  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence convinced  him  of  the  necessity  of  adopting  some  different  plan  for 
the  establishment  of  a  settlement,  and  carrying  out  his  views  for  the 
salvation  of  the  souls  of  the  savages.  Leaving  only  a  few  men  at  Que- 
bec he  again  went  to  France.  The  next  spring  he  returned  to  Quebec, 
to  find  a  crowd  of  adventurers  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  now  selected 
a  site  for  a  settlement  at  Montreal,  though  nothing  further  was  then 
done  for  its  establishment.  He  visited  the  camps  of  his  Indian  allies, 
but  the  condition  of  the  colony,  —  if  such  his  little  band  of  followers 
at  Quebec  could  be  called,  —  and  the  lawless  conduct  of  the  traders 
who  swarmed  in  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  forbade  his  intended 
explorations,  and  he  soon  returned  to  France  again  to  take  measures 
for  the  better  establishment  of  a  permanent  colony,  and  the  regulation 
of  trade.  In  form  he  was  partially  successful ;  but  practically  the  traders 
whom  he  wished  to  control,  by  sharing  their  profits  with  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  who  had  been  appointed  Lieutenant  General  of  New  France, 
secured  privileges  which  were  detrimental  to  the  projects  of  Champlain 
and  the  best  interests  of  New  France. 


88  CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 

While  engaged  in  making  the  arrangements  from  which  he  hoped 
good  results,  an  adventurer  who  had  accompanied  him  when  he  first 
began  the  settlement  at  Quebec,  and  who  had  passed  a  winter  among 
the  Indians,  appeared  at  Paris,  and  declared  that  he  had  reached  an  open 
sea  at  the  north,  which,  it  was  believed,  afforded  a  passage  to  the  In- 
dies, and  on  the  shores  of  this  sea  he  had  discovered  the  wreck  of  an 
English  ship.  The  circumstantial  and  clear  account  which  he  gave, 
found  credence  among  all  interested  in  such  discoveries,  and  Champlain, 
who  had  long  indulged  the  hope  of  reaching  and  exploring  this  alleged 
route  to  Asia,  eagerly  embraced  the  opportunity  of  verifying  the  reputed 
discovery,  and  prosecuting  it  to  some  valuable  result.  With  the  adven- 
turer, who  had  gained  no  little  distinction  by  his  alleged  discoveries,  the 
ardent  explorer  embarked  once  more  for  New  France. 

Arrived  at  Quebec,  Champlain  lost  no  time  before  setting  out  with 
four  Frenchmen,  one  of  whom  was  the  above-named  adventurer,  to  visit 
the  Algonquins,  and  reach  the  field  of  discovery.  With  native  guides  they 
proceeded  up  the  Ottawa  in  canoes,  stemmed  the  rapids,  crossed  broad 
lakes,  threaded  the  dark  forest,  passed  through  Indian  towns,  met  with 
strange  incidents  and  various  hardships,  till  the  guides  declared  they 
could  advance  no  farther.  After  all  their  weary  progress  and  laborious 
exertions,  it  turned  out,  much  to  Champlain's  chagrin  and  disappoint- 
ment, that  the  adventurer  was  an  impostor,  and  his  tale  of  discovery  a 
myth.  The  Indians  proved  his  falsehood,  and  finally  the  guilty  pretender 
confessed  to  Champlain  his  perfidy,  and  admitted  that  at  the  time  of 
the  pretended  discovery  he  was  playing  the  sluggard  in  the  lodges  of 
the  Indians. 

Champlain  returned  to  Quebec  more  impressed  than  ever  with  the 
duty  of  converting  the  degraded  savages,  but  the  merchants,  who  were 
the  chief  support  of  the  colony,  were  as  indifferent  as  he  was  earnest. 
On  his  next  visit  to  France,  however,  he  enlisted  influential  parties  in 
the  cause,  and  four  Recollet  friars,  a  branch  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
accompanied  him  (in  1615)  to  Quebec.  There  they  established  a  con- 
vent, and  then  two  of  them  departed  on  their  mission  to  the  Indians, 
ready  to  endure  hardship  and  misery  in  the  service  of  the  church.  One 
of  them,  accompanied  by  twelve  Frenchmen,  penetrated  to  the  country 
of  the  Hurons,  where  the  Indians  built  him  a  lodge,  and  he  set  up  his 


A    VISIT   TO   THE  HURONS. 


89 


altar,  with  its  decorations,  which  had  been  carried  with  no  little  difficulty 
through  the  long  and  perilous  journey. 

The  Indians  gave  the  priest  a  hospitable  welcome,  but  they  were  far 
more  anxious  to  have  the  aid  of  Champlain  against  their  enemies  than 
the  sacred  offices  of  the  peaceful  friar.  Champlain  had  promised  such 
aid,  and  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  had  once  assembled  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Ottawa,  eager  to  have  the  redoubtable  warrior,  who  was  sure  to 
win  a  victory  for  them,  join  them  once  more  on  the  war-path.  He  made 
his  preparations,  believing  that  by  thus  securing  the  friendship  of  these 
allies  he  would  strengthen  his  colony  and  the  dominion  of  France  over 
the  vast  territory  which  they  inhabited.  But  while  he  was  making  prep- 
arations on  as  large  a  scale  as  was  possible  with  his  limited  resources, 
the  Indians,  who  went  to  war  with  a  quiver  of  arrows  and  a  pouch  of 
parched  corn,  were  disgusted  at  his  delay,  and  returned  to  their  homes. 

But  Champlain  was  bound  to  visit  them,  and  with  two  of  his  coun- 
trymen and  a  number  of  Indians,  paddled  up  the  Ottawa,  and  pro- 
ceeded on  a  long  and  laborious  journey  through  forest  and  across  lakes, 
over  precipitous  hills  and  through  swamps,  until  he  reached  the  culti- 
vated fields  and  the  palisaded  towns  of  the  Hurons.  In  the  forest  near 
one  of  these  towns  he  found  the  Recollet  friar  in  the  hermitage  where 
he  had  erected  his  altar  and  daily  attempted  to  give  the  benighted  na- 
tives, who  with  savage  curiosity  thronged  about  the  cabin,  some  faint 
idea  of  the  religion  he  so  zealously  had  brought  to  them.  The  devoted 
but  almost  despairing  priest  was  overjoyed  to  see  Champlain  once  more, 
and  with  a  little  band  of  Christians  about  him,  and  a  crowd  of  the 
heathen  before  him,  he  celebrated  mass  with  all  the  solemnity  that  the 
surroundings  would  admit,  hoping  to  impress  the  savage  spectators  by 
the  ceremonial,  if  not  with  the  spirit,  of  his  worship. 

The  Hurons  received  Champlain  with  the  greatest  hospitality,  and 
feasted  him  to  satiety,  as  he  visited  several  of  their  towns.  They  hon- 
ored him  as  an  invincible  warrior,  and  were  only  too  glad  to  go  on  the 
war-path  if  he  would  go  with  them.  A  hostile  expedition  against  the 
Iroquois  was  soon  planned  by  the  Hurons  and  a  kindred  tribe.  With 
a  large  number  of  these  Indians  Champlain  and  his  followers  entered 
upon  the  campaign.  It  was  a  long  journey  by  canoes  and  march,  and 
the  halts  made  to  fish  or  hunt  game  for  supplies  consumed  much  time, 

NO.    III.  12 


9° 


CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. 


but  in  the  course  of  two  months  the  army  —  if  the  rabble  of  warriors 
can  be  dignified  by  that  name  —  crossed  Lake  Ontario,  and  invaded  the 
country  of  the  Iroquois.  A  fortified  or  palisaded  town  was  attacked, 
but  without  success,  and  the  French  arquebuses  could  not  win  the  vic- 
tory here.  Many  of  the  assailants  were  wounded,  and  among  them 
Champlain,  who  had  received  an  arrow  in  his  leg.  Discouraged,  the 
Hurons  retired,  carrying  Champlain  packed  in  a  basket  till  they  reached 
their  canoes,  and  then  crossing  Lake  Ontario  they  journeyed  homeward 
without  the  spoils  of  victory. 

Winter  was  approaching,  and  Champlain  desired  to  return  to  Quebec; 
but  since  he  had  failed  to  secure  victory,  and  proved  not  invulnerable, 
the  Indians  were  less  disposed  to  defer  to  his  wishes,  and  none  could 
be  found  who  were  willing  to  undertake  the  journey  with  him  at  that 
season.  He  was  forced,  therefore,  to  pass  the  winter  with  the  Hurons. 
Before  they  returned  to  their  towns,  however,  they  separated  into  hunt- 
ing parties  to  procure  a  stock  of  venison  and  deer-skins.  Champlain 
engaged  in  the  sport  with  pleasure;  and  deer,  wolves,  and  wild-fowl 
fell  before  his  arquebuse.  While  in  pursuit  of  birds,  one  day,  he  wan- 
dered too  far  into  the  trackless  forest,  and  lost  his  way.  For  several 
days  he  roamed  about  endeavoring  to  find  some  clew  by  which  he  could 
retrace  his  steps  to  the  Indian  camp,  sleeping  at  night  without  shelter 
in  the  frosty  air.  At  last  he  found  his  way  within  reach  of  the  Indians 
who  were  in  search  of  him,  and  who  conducted  him  into  camp  with 
great  rejoicing.  The  hunting  season  over,  the  Indians  returned  to  their 
towns,  and  Champlain,  ill  disposed  to  pass  the  winter  in  feasting,  smok- 
ing, and  idleness,  after  the  manner  of  the  savages,  visited  several  of  the 
towns,  and  explored  much  of  the  country  about  Lake  Huron.  He  was 
everywhere  received  with  the  greatest  hospitality  and  honors,  according 
to  the  Indian  standard,  and  he  everywhere  endeavored  to  secure  the 
permanent  friendship  of  his  entertainers.  After  a  winter  thus  spent  in 
congenial  pursuits,  but  with  uncongenial  companions,  he  was  glad  in  the 
spring  to  take  the  long  journey  back  to  Quebec. 

As  before  remarked,  the  chief  interest  of  the  settlement  at  Quebec 
centres  in  Champlain.  He  was  not  only  the  founder  of  the  colony,  and 
its  main  support  in  its  early  years,  but  he  inaugurated  the  policy  under 
which  the  French  so  successfully  extended  their  trading-posts,  forts,  and 


THE  FRENCH  AND   THE  INDIANS.  9! 

missions  through  the  region  of  the  lakes,  and  across  the  prairies  to  the 
Mississippi.  He  made  friends  and  allies  of  those  Indian  tribes  whose 
friendship  was  most  likely  to  be  of  service  to  the  French  by  reason  of 
their  location.  His  policy  and  his  example  were  largely  followed  by  his 
countrymen.  The  French,  unlike  the  Spaniards  and  English,  generally 
sought  to  establish  friendly  relations  with  the  natives,  and  from  the  first 
settlement  of  Quebec  there  were  French  adventurers  who  went  to  dwell 
among  the  Indians,  and  who,  with  less  scruples  than  Champlain  had 
exhibited,  took  squaws  for  wives.  From  them  sprang  numerous  half- 
breeds,  who,  in  after  years,  were  of  incalculable  service  to  the  French, 
whether  in  the  pursuits  of  trade  or  in  war. 

There  was,  however,  one  notable  exception  to  the  friendly  relations 
established  by  the  French  with  the  Indian  tribes.  In  joining  the  Hu- 
rons  and  Algonquins  in  their  wars  against  the  Iroquois,  Champlain  and 
the  French  incurred  the  lasting  hostility  of  those  warlike  tribes,  and  a 
fearful  retribution  followed,  continuing  through  many  years.  The  Iro- 
quois, first  supplied  with  fire-arms  by  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson,  waged 
a  fierce  warfare  on  the  French  settlements,  and  in  after  years  were  the 
most  dreaded  allies  of  the  English  in  the  wars  which  followed.  They 
almost  annihilated  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French,  and  more  than  once 
nearly  destroyed  the  French  colony  itself. 


XI. 

QUEBEC    AND   THE   JESUITS. 


[EANWHILE  the  settlement  at  Quebec  grew  slowly,  and 
at  the  end  of  eight  years  was  scarcely  more  of  a  settle- 
ment than  when  first  founded.  Outside  the  enclosure 
constructed  by  Champlain,  some  warehouses,  and  a  few 
dwellings,  had  been  erected  by  the  traders,  and  the  monks 
had  built  a  small  monastery  and  chapel,  while  on  the 
summit  of  the  rock  a  fort  had  been  constructed,  and 
gardens  and  fields  were  planted.  Champlain  was  nomi- 
nally commander,  but  the  fur  traders  practically  controlled  affairs,  and 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  place  of  little  account  except  as  a  trading 
post.  In  the  company  that  had  the  grant  of  a  monopoly  of  trade  there 
were  dissensions  between  Catholics  and  Huguenots,  and  the  condition 
of  the  colony  grew  gradually  worse,  in  spite  of  Champlain's  efforts,  in 
France,  to  secure  more  stringent  conditions  upon  the  merchants.  He 
brought  his  wife  to  Quebec,  in  the  hope  that  now  affairs  might  improve; 
but  after  remaining  there  a  few  years,  during  which  she  found  little  to 
enjoy,  she  returned  to  France,  and  entered  a  convent. 

At  one  time,  a  band  of  Iroquois  appeared  near  the  settlement,  threat- 
ening an  attack;  but  fearful  of  cannon  and  arquebuse,  they  contented 
themselves  with  an  attack  on  the  stone  monastery,  which  the  Recollet 
friars  had  recently  erected  on  the  St.  Charles,  and  which,  with  the  aid 
of  some  Indian  converts,  they  successfully  defended.  Complaints  from 
Champlain  and  the  friars  at  length  induced  the  nobleman  who  held  from 
the  king  the  vice-royalty  of  New  France  to  suppress  the  company  of 
merchants,  whose  quarrels  and  negligence  had  brought  the  affairs  of 

92 


BAD    CONDITION  OF  THE    COLONT.  93 

the  settlement  to  such  a  pass.  The  exclusive  trade  was  then  granted 
to  two  Huguenot  merchants,  only  to  bring  about  new  disorders  ;  for 
those  who  lost  the  monopoly  were  defiant,  and  boldly  engaged  in  illicit 
trade,  causing  a  constant  succession  of  quarrels,  from  which  the  colo- 
nists experienced  anything  but  good.  A  change  in  the  vice-royalty  led 
to  the  introduction  of  the  Jesuits,  but  the  Huguenot  merchants,  who 
virtually  maintained  the  colony,  refused  to  harbor  them,  and  they  were 
forced  to  establish  themselves  outside  the  settlement.  Their  presence 
did  not  add  to  the  peace  of  Quebec,  and  the  truculent  conduct  of  the 
Huguenots  so  scandalized  the  Catholic  viceroy  in  France,  that  their 
monopoly  was  in  turn  annulled. 

New  measures  were  soon  after  taken  for  the  advancement  of  New 
France.  Cardinal  Richelieu,  who  was  then  supreme,  abrogated  all 
grants,  whether  of  honor  or  profit,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  New  France.  A  new  and  large  com- 
pany was  created,  composed  of  nobles  and  merchants  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  which  was  to  enjoy  the  exclusive  right  of  trade,  while  it  succored 
Quebec,  established  new  settlements,  and  aided  the  church  in  converting 
the  Indians.  Under  this  new  dispensation  none  but  Frenchmen  and 
Catholics  were  to  be  allowed  to  settle  in  New  France,  and  each  settle- 
ment was  to  be  liberally  supplied  with  priests.  With  abundant  means 
a  fleet  was  fitted  out,  carrying  ample  stores,  and  a  large  number  of  men 
of  various  trades  and  occupations,  not  only  to  succor  and  strengthen 
Quebec,  but  to  establish  other  settlements. 

Meanwhile  the  settlers  at  Quebec,  numbering  scarce  a  hundred  men, 
women,  and  children,  were  short  of  supplies,  and  needed  the  aid  that 
was  thus  provided  for  them.  But  at  this  time  France  and  England 
were  at  war,  and  while  the  fleet  was  sailing  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  an 
English  squadron,  fitted  out  under  private  auspices  to  seize  the  settle- 
ments of  New  France,  intercepted  it,  captured  the  supplies,  and  carried 
away  the  crews  and  passengers  as  prisoners. 

At  about  the  same  time  an  outpost  of  the  colony,  at  Cape  Tour- 
mente,  where  the  cattle  were  pastured,  was  visited  by  a  party  of  the 
English,  and  pillaged,  and  the  cattle  killed.  When  this  was  reported  at 
Quebec,  Champlain  awaited  a  similar  visit,  and  made  preparations  for  a 
show  of  defence,  though  he  had  a  garrison  of  only  a  few  half-starved 


94  QUEBEC  AND   THE  JESUITS. 

men,  and  scarcely  fifty  pounds  of  powder.  The  English  squadron  which 
had  captured  the  French  ships  was  commanded  by  Admiral  Kirk,  a 
Huguenot,  with  his  two  brothers  as  subordinates,  and  there  were  many 
French  refugees  among  the  crew,  who  were  nothing  loath  to  fight 
against  the  government  that  excluded  them  from  the  settlement.  A  part 
of  the  squadron  apparently  had  gone  to  visit  some  other  French  set- 
tlement, leaving  one  of  Kirk's  brothers  to  capture  Quebec.  That  officer, 
however,  did  not  care  to  attack  a  place  of  such  apparent  strength,  but 
sent  by  the  hands  of  some  Basque  traders  a  courteous  summons  for  the 
surrender  of  the  place.  Champlain  replied  in  like  polite  terms,  but  with 
a  prompt  refusal,  and  a  declaration  that  he  should  defend  the  place  to 
the  last. 

An  attack  was  expected ;  but  Kirk,  deceived  by  the  bold  attitude  of 
Champlain,  forbore  to  make  one,  and  contented  himself  with  cruising 
after  French  trading  and  fishing  vessels.  The  destruction  or  capture 
of  the  French  fleet  was  unknown  at  Quebec,  and  the  colonists  watched 
anxiously  for  its  arrival;  but  no  friendly  sail  appeared,  and  the  months 
went  by  with  ever-increasing  want.  The  colonists  were  crowded  to- 
gether in  the  fort,  and  a  scanty  allowance  of  peas  for  food  was  eked 
out  with  roots  and  acorns  gathered  in  the  forest.  Some  of  the  men  took 
refuge  with  the  Indians,  and  those  who  remained  would  gladly  have  wel- 
comed the  enemy  for  the  sake  of  food.  Even  Champlain  was  not  un- 
willing to  surrender  if  the  enemy  appeared. 

It  was  not  till  July  in  the  following  year  (1629)  that  the  sails  of 
either  friend  or  foe  appeared.  Then  three  English  ships  were  seen,  and 
Champlain  mustered  his  little  garrison  of  sixteen  men.  A  boat  with  a 
flag  of  truce  put  off  from  one  of  the  ships,  and  an  officer  landed  with 
a  summons  to  surrender.  Resistance  was  impossible,  and  the  terms  of 
surrender  were  soon  settled;  the  French  were  to  be  carried  to  their  own 
country,  and  the  post  was  to  be  occupied  by  the  English.  The  French 
flag  was  hauled  down,  and  the  English  flag  was  raised  in  its  place,  and 
saluted  with  the  roar  of  artillery.  The  commander  of  the  English  ships, 
a  brother  of  Admiral  Kirk,  treated  the  settlers  well,  and  urged  some  of 
them  to  remain  under  the  English  flag;  but  to  the  Jesuits  he  showed  little 
favor,  and  took  them  on  board  his  ships  to  be  carried  to  France. 

Champlain  was  now  anxious  to  return  to  France,  and  embarked  with 


A  NEW  REGIME.  9S 

Kirk  for  Tadoussac,  whence  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  find  a  passage. 
On  the  way  down  the  river  they  met  a  French  ship,  bearing  supplies 
to  Quebec,  which  had  passed  the  English  squadron  at  Tadoussac  in 
safety.  Kirk  bore  down  upon  her,  and  a  battle  ensued,  in  which  the 
English  ship  was  finally  victorious,  and  the  Frenchman  was  taken  to 
Tadoussac  as  a  prize.  Soon  after  the  squadron  set  sail  for  Europe,  and 
on  its  arrival  in  England  Champlain  learned  that  peace  was  re-estab- 
lished, and  by  his  efforts  negotiations  were  entered  into  for  restoring 
New  France  to  its  orignal  settlers. 

While  Quebec  was  under  the  English  flag  its  buildings  fell  into  a 
dilapidated  condition.  Most  of  the  French  Catholics  left,  the  Huguenot 
traders  and  some  English  came,  the  Indians  made  the  acquaintance  of 
fire-water,  and  becoming  troublesome  were  abused,  and  affairs  were 
generally  in  an  unhappy  condition.  At  last,  agreeably  to  treaty,  the  Eng- 
lish flag  was  hauled  down,  and  the  place  was  restored  to  the  French, 
—  at  first  to  the  Huguenot  merchants,  who  were  to  have  a  monopoly 
of  the  trade  for  a  year,  and  then  to  the  company  of  which  Richelieu 
was  the  head.  By  the  latter  Champlain  was  again  commissioned  to 
take  charge  of  the  colony.  Two  Jesuits  had  accompanied  the  Hugue- 
nots when  they  took  possession  of  the  restored  settlement,  and  others 
of  the  order  accompanied  Champlain,  when,  in  1633,  he  returned  to  Que- 
bec. The  affairs  of  the  colony  were  now  to  be  administered  for  the 
advantage  of  Catholics,  and  the  exclusion  of  heretics;  and  the  Jesuits, 
long  anxious  to  enter  this  field  of  labor,  were  to  establish  missions 
among  the  Indians.  The  work  of  saving  the  souls  of  the  heathen  was 
to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  colonization  of  the  country  and  the  ex- 
tension of  commerce,  —  was,  indeed,  to  take  the  lead,  and  precede 
trading-posts  and  permanent  settlements. 

Under  this  new  regime  the  character  of  Quebec  was  greatly  changed 
from  its  former  turbulent  and  mercenary  spirit.  Trade  was  made  sub- 
ordinate to  religion,  and  the  black-robed  Jesuits  were  more  powerful 
than  the  military  officers.  The  ordinances  of  the  church  were  observed 
with  strict  fidelity  by  all  the  inhabitants,  and  the  Indians  were  induced, 
by  gifts  and  kind  treatment,  to  attend  mass,  and  to  be  baptized.  Cham- 
plain  himself  was  no  longer  the  bold  adventurer  and  ardent  knight-errant, 
ready  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Indians,  but  a  zealous  observer  of  reli- 


96  QUEBEC  AND    THE    JESUITS. 

gious  duties,  with  his  conscience  in  the  keeping  of  a  Jesuit  father. 
From  the  trunk  thus  firmly  established  on  the  St.  Lawrence  the 
branches  soon  extended  into  the  vast  wilderness.  Missions  were  marked 
out,  and  the  devoted  followers  of  Loyola  penetrated  the  forest,  estab- 
lished themselves  among  the  Indians,  labored  with  unflagging  zeal  and 
untiring  patience,  and  endured  privations  and  hardships,  to  extend  their 
religion  and  save  the  souls  of  the  benighted  worshippers  of  Satan.  Fol- 
lowing the  missions  came  the  trading-posts,  and  after  them  the  forts, 
not  to  hold  the  neighboring  tribes  at  bay,  but  to  protect  traders  and 
Indians  alike  from  their  enemies;  and  thus  the  French  advanced  through 
a  vast  region  into  the  heart  of  the  continent,  while  the  English  occupied 
a  mere  fringe  along  the  coast.  But  this  long  line  of  widely  separated 
posts  accomplished  but  little  for  the  permanent  dominion  of  France. 

Champlain  lived  but  two  years  and  a  half  after  his  return  to  Que- 
bec, during  which  he  piously  labored  for  the  welfare  of  the  still  feeble 
colony  which  he  had  planted  there  twenty-seven  years  before.  By  his 
efforts  alone  its  existence  had  been  continued  through  the  misfortunes 
and  discouragements  which  attended  it,  and  though,  after  all  his  toil,  he 
did  not  live  to  see  it  self-sustaining  and  strong,  he  died  in  the  belief 
that  its  peace  and  prosperity  were  assured. 

With,  regard  to  the  zealous  missionaries  who  were  the  pioneers  in 
the  progress  of  France  in  North  America,  a  brief  account  of  the  expe- 
riences of  one  of  the  missions  will  illustrate  the  toils  and  hardships  of 
all.  As  previously  stated,  while  Huguenot  merchants  had  a  nominal 
monopoly  of  trade  at  Quebec,  and  virtually  controlled  the  settlement, 
several  Jesuits  arrived.  They  soon  set  out  on  their  long-desired  labor 
among  the  Indians,  and  after  great  toil  and  hardship  reached  the  coun- 
try of  the  Hurons.  Their  success  in  converting  the  savages  was  far 
from  encouraging,  and  they  returned  to  Quebec,  and  when  that  settle- 
ment was  surrendered  to  the  English  they  went  with  Champlain  to 
Europe. 

When  at  last  Quebec  was  restored  to  France,  and  Champlain  re- 
turned to  administer  its  affairs,  a  party  of  Jesuits  came  with  him,  and 
after  establishing  there  a  convent,  in  which  their  superior  resided,  they 
organized  various  missions,  and  the  most  devoted  of  their  number  went 
to  establish  and  maintain  them.  The  chief  of  these  was  among  the  Hu- 


JESUITS  AMONG    THE  HURONS.  9y 

rons,  and  thither  went  several  of  the  priests,  among  them  Brebeuf,  who 
had  visited  that  nation  in  former  years,  and  had  mastered  some  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  Huron  language.  The  missionaries  were  received  with 
the  greatest  hospitality  by  the  Indians,  who  built  for  them  a  spacious 
lodge  of  saplings  covered  with  bark.  Brebeuf  was  especially  welcomed, 
for  he  was  remembered  as  a  friend.  When  the  lodge  was  finished,  ac- 
cording to  the  Indian  notion,  the  priests  built  partitions,  dividing  it  into 
a  chapel,  a  storeroom,  and  a  living-room;  and  in  the  chapel  they  set  up 
their  altar,  and  adorned  the  rough  walls  with  sacred  pictures  which 
they  had  brought  laboriously  through  the  wilderness,  while  with  their 
tools  they  contrived  conveniences  which  were  wonders  in  the  eyes  of 
the  savages. 

Their  first  efforts  were  to  secure  the  good  will  and  confidence  of  the 
Indians;  and  by  trifling  gifts  and  extraordinary  patience,  as  well  as  their 
harmless  lives,  they  succeeded  so  long  as  matters  went  well.  They 
undertook  to  instruct  the  natives  in  religion,  but  while  the  latter  lis- 
tened and  assented  to  all  that  was  said,  little  impression  was  made  upon 
their  minds.  With  the  children  they  were  more  successful  than  with 
the  adults,  and  gathering  them  frequently  at  their  house,  they  taught  them 
to  chant  the  Pater  noster,  translated  into  the  Huron  tongue,  to  make  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  to  repeat  the  Credo,  with  other  similar  lessons,  which 
the  young  savages  were  not  slow  to  learn.  Some  of  the  children  were 
baptized,  but  to  scarcely  any  others  were  they  able  to  administer  this  rite 
except  those  apparently  about  to  die. 

The  feasts  and  orgies  of  the  Indians,  when  they  celebrated  some 
great  domestic  event,  or  undertook  to  drive  out  the  evil  spirits  which, 
as  they  believed,  caused  the  sickness  of  their  friends,  not  only  disturbed 
the  slumbers  of  the  priests,  but  troubled  their  minds.  They  soon  expe- 
rienced, however,  more  serious  troubles.  A  drought  came,  and  the  crops 
in  their  poorly  cultivated  fields  were  withered.  The  Indian  sorcerers,  or 
"  medicine  men,"  performed  their  heathenish  rites,  and  cried  aloud  for 
rain  without  avail.  Finding  their  efforts  vain,  they  charged  the  priests, 
whom  they  looked  upon  as  rivals,  with  the  calamity,  saying  that  the 
red  color  of  the  cross  erected  before  their  house  scared  away  the  thun- 
der-bird that  brought  the  rain.  The  savages  then  began  to  murmur, 
and  demanded  that  the  red  cross  be  taken  down.  The  priests  remon- 
NO.  in.  13 


98  QUEBEC  AND    THE    JESUITS. 

strated,  and  painted  the  cross  white;  but  though  the  Indians  were  ap- 
peased, the  rain  did  not  follow.  The  zealous  missionaries  then  called 
upon  the  troubled  natives  to  worship  the  true  God,  and  they  would 
make  a  daily  procession,  and  implore  the  divine  favor,  that  rain  might 
fall.  Regarding  the  priests  as  only  a  superior  order  of  medicine-men, 
and  their  religious  ceremonies  as  rites  of  an  order  similar  to  the  native 
sorcery,  the  Indians  promised  all  that  the  priests  demanded.  The  pro- 
cessions were  duly  made,  and  masses  were  said,  and  when,  soon  after, 
copious  rains  fell,  the  blessed  relief  was  attributed  to  the  power  of  the 
priests,  and  they  were  re-established  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  fickle 
Indians. 

But  a  greater  evil  than  the  drought  befell  the  poor  natives;  a  pes- 
tilence visited  the  Huron  towns,  sweeping  away  hundreds  of  the  inhab- 
itants. Then  it  was  that  the  Jesuits  labored  with  unceasing  toils  in 
behalf  of  humanity.  Braving  the  fierce  cold  and  the  deep  snow,  they 
visited  the  villages  far  and  near,  ministering  as  best  they  could  to  the 
sick,  who  were  always  eager  to  take  even  the  simplest  potion  from 
their  hands,  believing  it  had,  when  thus  administered,  a  mysterious  heal- 
ing power.  It -was  no  agreeable  labor  that  the  missionaries  imposed 
upon  themselves.  In  cold,  dirty,  and  smoky  lodges  men,  women,  and 
children  lay  in  all  stages  of  a  loathsome  disease,  or  crouched  in  sullen 
dejection  around  their  fires.  Smoke,  filth,  and  foul  air  oppressed  their 
senses,  and  contagion  .threatened  them.  The  moaning  of  sufferers  and 
the  wail  of  mourners  were  mingled  in  saddest  strains.  And  what  trou- 
bled these  pious  zealots  most,  the  souls  of  all  these  dying  creatures  were 
going  to  everlasting  perdition.  But  with  self-forgetting  bravery  and  pa- 
tience they  visited  each  one  of  the  sick,  giving  a  bowl  of  broth  or  a 
little  senna,  or  even  a  cup  of  cold  water  sweetened  with  a  bit  of  sugar, 
not  forgetting  to  administer  kind  words  and  entreaties  that  the  dying 
should  embrace  the  faith  for  which  they  labored.  The  Indians,  however, 
were  little  disposed  to  accept  the  religion  which  was  thus  offered  them. 
They  appreciated  the  terrors  of  hell,  as  painted  by  the  Jesuits,  but  they 
preferred  to  join  their  friends  in  the  happy  hunting-grounds  of  departed 
savages,  rather  than  enter  the  Frenchman's  paradise  where  no  one  would 
give  them  food.  Penitence  was  a  feeling  unknown  to  the  Indians,  and 
the  priests  found  it  hard  to  prepare  even  those  who  were  desirous  of 


A  HOSTILE  INDIAN  COUNCIL.  99 

going  to  heaven  for  the  baptismal  rite.  In  a  few  cases,  however,  their 
labors  were  apparently  successful,  and  then,  with  great  joy,  the  priests 
touched  the  forehead  of  the  convert  with  the  holy  water,  and  saved  a 
soul  from  torment.  While  they  hesitated  to  baptize  adults  without  some 
show  of  contrition,  they  baptized  dying  children  without  attempting  any 
preparation,  and  in  this  way  believed  they  were  doing  a  righteous  work 
in  saving  souls.  As  the  rite  was  seldom  administered  except  in  cases 
when  the  subject  was  at  the  point  of  death,  the  Indians,  who  at  first 
believed  that  baptism  was  a  kind  of  sorcery  which  would  work  a  cure, 
came  to  regard  it  as  a  cause  of  mortality.  They  refused  to  have  their  sick 
children  baptized,  and  jealously  watched  the  priests  lest  they  should 
touch  the  little  sufferers  with  the  mystic  drop  of  water,  and  doom  them 
to  certain  death.  The  Jesuits  were  determined,  however,  to  do  the  work 
to  which  they  were  called,  and  frequently,  with  the  dexterity  of  ma- 
gicians, secretly  touched  the  sick  child  with  a  moistened  finger  while 
administering  a  bit  of  sugar. 

Some  of  these  secret  baptisms  being  observed  by  the  watchful  In- 
dians, a  feeling  of  resentment  was  aroused,  and  the  medicine-men,  whose 
skill  and  power  as  sorcerers  had  somewhat  fallen  into  disrepute  before 
the  achievements  of  the  priests,  who  were  looked  upon  as  more  potent 
sorcerers,  were  not  slow  in  fanning  this  feeling  into  hostility.  The  pes- 
tilence and  all  the  other  evils  which  afflicted  the  nation  were  attributed 
to  the  Jesuits,  and  finally  a  great  council  was  called  to  determine  what 
should  be  done  to  get  rid  of  them.  It  was  held  at  night,  according  to 
custom,  in  the  spacious  council-house  of  the  town  where  the  mission 
was  established,  and  was  attended  by  chiefs  from  all  the  divisions  of 
the  nation,  who  sat  in  circles  around  the  fire,  which  alone  lighted  the 
dusky  assembly.  After  deliberately  discussing  treaties  and  other  matters 
concerning  the  general  welfare,  the  pestilence  was  considered,  and  gave 
rise  to  a  more  excited  debate.  Chiefs  of  renown,  whose  words  were 
weighty  with  their  tribe,  mournfully  recounted  their  losses,  and  then 
fiercely  inveighed  against  the  priests  as  the  cause  of  all  their  woes. 
The  sentiments  thus  expressed  were  received  with  general  approval  by 
the  assembly,  whose  mutterings  boded  no  good  to  the  missionaries. 
The  Jesuits,  however,  who  had  been  informed  of  the  purpose  of  the 
council,  were  present,  determined  to  meet  any  charges  with  a  bold  front 


ioo  QUEBEC  AND   THE   JESUITS. 

becoming  their  high  calling.  They  listened  without  flinching  to  the  de- 
nunciations and  threats  of  the  savage  orators,  and  then  Brebeuf  addressed 
the  assembly  in  reply  to  the  charges,  showing  how  false  and  unreason- 
able they  were,  and  calling  upon  the  superstitious  accusers  to  renounce 
the  service  of  Satan,  and  worship  the  true  God,  that  they  might  find 
relief  from  their  sufferings.  His  harangue  had  but  little  effect,  except 
to  provoke  contradiction;  and  new  charges  were  made  as  often  as  one 
was  refuted;  but  the  Jesuits  persisted  in  their  bold  denials  till  the  as- 
sembly was  tired  out,  and  gradually  diminished  to  a  very  small  number, 
when  at  last  it  broke  up  without  any  decision,  though  not  without  threat- 
ening looks  and  words  from  some  of  the  more  savage  chiefs. 

Though  the  council  had  not  taken  action,  and  the  priests  escaped 
immediate  martyrdom,  they  were  still  in  the  greatest  danger.  Among 
the  Indians  were  a  few  converts,  and  others,  who,  on  account  of 
some  kindness,  had  a  friendly  feeling  for  them,  and  by  such  they  were 
warned  of  their  peril,  and  that  a  new  council  was  called  to  pass  sen- 
tence of  death  upon  them.  Again  they  appeared  and  confronted  their 
accusers  so  boldly  that  the  council  was  abashed,  and  postponed  the 
sentence  which  had  already  been  determined  upon,  but  which  they  hes- 
itated to  execute  upon  men  whose  bravery  was  of  a  higher  order  than 
their  own.  The  doom,  however,  though  delayed,  seemed  certain,  and 
the  sullen  and  threatening  looks  of  Indian  men  and  women,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  children,  who  reviled  and  assailed  them  with  sticks  and 
stones,  convinced  the  devoted  missionaries  that  they  might  at  any  time 
be  struck  down  with  a  hatchet  as  they  opened  the  door  of  their  house. 

The  Jesuits  had  from  the  first  studied  the  Indian  habits  and  cus- 
toms, and  so  far  as  they  did  not  run  counter  to  their  religion,  had  con- 
formed to  them,  as  one  of  the  means  adapted  to  win  the  confidence 
of  the  natives.  One  of  these  customs  was  the  giving  of  a  feast  by  those 
who  expected  death,  and  thus  bade  farewell  to  their  friends.  Even  this 
custom,  which  was  regarded  as  a  sacred  duty  by  the  Indians,  the  priests 
determined  to  follow,  either  as  a  possible  means  of  arousing  the  more 
generous  feelings  of  the  savages,  and  thus  escaping  death,  or  as  a  last 
and  most  impressive  way  of  reaching  the  savage  mind  with  the  truths 
of  Christianity. 

Their  purpose  being  announced,  according  to  the  Indian   custom,  a 


THE    JESUIT     BREBEUF     CONFRONTING     THE     INDIAN     COUNCIL. 


CONTINUED  PERSECUTION.  IOi 

large  number  of  chiefs  and  warriors  assembled  at  the  mission-house, 
and  seated  on  the  ground,  in  their  usual  manner,  each  received  a  bowl 
of  food.  Brebeuf  addressed  them  with  the  same  confidence  and  bold- 
ness which  he  had  always  displayed,  painting  in  glowing  colors  the  bliss 
of  heaven  and  the  torments  of  hell,  and  showing  no  sign  of  fear  or  regret 
for  the  fate  which  impended  over  him  and  his  brethren.  The  assembled 
feasters  listened  in  silence,  and  gave  no  sign  which  augured  either  good 
or  evil,  except  so  far  as  sullen  looks  might  indicate  the  latter  •  and  when 
they  had  devoured  their  food  they  rose  and  departed.  The  priests  were 
in  doubt  as  to  the  intentions  of  the  Indians,  but  they  soon  found  that  they 
had  acted  wisely,  and  that  the  immediate  peril  which  threatened  them 
was,  for  a  time  at  least,  averted.  Those  who  were  friendly  defended 
them  oppnly,  and  their  conduct  commanded  the  respect  of  all.  Hostile 
looks  were  less  frequent,  and  even  the  children,  in  a  measure,  ceased 
their  revilings. 

This,  however,  was  by  no  means  the  end  of  their  persecutions,  which 
from  time  to  time  were  renewed  during  many  years.  They  were  still 
regarded  as  sorcerers,  and  each  new  misfortune  was  attributed  to  their 
incantations,  for  such  the  Indians  regarded  all  religious  observances.  A 
number  of  them  narrowly  escaped  death  at  the  hands  of  some  excited 
Indian.  Sometimes  they  were  saved  by  their  own  unflinching  looks  and 
words,  which  overawed  the  assailant,  and  sometimes  by  the  intervention 
of  more  friendly  or  cooler  bystanders.  Their  conduct  was  incompre- 
hensible to  the  Indians,  who  could  not  conceive  the  spirit  of  martyr- 
dom which  animated  these  men  so  devoted  to  their  religion  and  prop- 
agandism.  The  priests  themselves  attributed  their  preservation  in  all 
cases  to  the  direct  intervention  of  the  Virgin,  saints  and  angels,  in  an- 
swer to  their  pious  prayers  and  repeated  masses. 

The  mission  to  the  Hurons,  once  established,  was  soon  increased  by 
the  advent  of  others  of  the  order,  with  whom  came  a  still  larger  num- 
ber of  servants  and  mechanics.  More  spacious  and  better  buildings  were 
erected,  including  a  separate  chapel,  and  from  this,  as  a  parent  mission, 
others  were  organized,  and  priests  with  the  same  devoted  enthusiasm 
went  out  to  like  toils,  dangers,  and  persecutions.  Quebec  was  the  head 
of  the  Jesuit  missions,  and  as  the  priests  of  the  order  arrived  from  France, 
eager  to  engage  in  the  work  of  converting  the  Indians,  they  were  sent 


I02  QUEBEC  AND    THE    JESUITS. 

to  the  various  missions  already  established,  or  to  found  new  ones  among 
distant  tribes.  Many  of  these  encountered  severer  toils  and  persecutions 
than  those  above  recorded.  Some  of  them,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Iroquois,  suffered  fearful  tortures;  but  when  rescued  by  the  Dutch, 
as  some  of  them  were,  and  sent  back  to  France,  with  an  enthusiastic 
devotion  to  their  cause,  and  undeterred  by  their  terrible  experience,  they 
went  back  to  New  France  to  engage  again  in  their  work. 

It  is  not  proposed,  however,  to  follow  these  men  who  led  the  van 
in  the  progress  of  the  French  from  the  St.  Lawrence  westward.  The 
object  of  the  foregoing  pages  was  to  show  briefly  the  character  of  the 
early  French  settlements.  Quebec  was  now  little  else  than  a  monastic 
colony,  controlled  by  the  Jesuits,  who  thence  extended  their  missions  and 
their  power  through  Canada,  and  who  claimed  the  whole  country  as  their 
rightful  domain.  Trade  and  military  force  followed  them,  but  always 
subordinate,  and  to  these  able,  shrewd,  and  bold  enthusiasts,  who  did  not 
scruple  at  the  means  by  which  they  might  attain  their  pious  ends,  France 
was  indebted  for  the  dominion  she  acquired  in  America,  —  acquired,  but 
could  not  retain  against  a  sturdier  race  of  colonists,  whose  growth  was 
more  vigorous  if  their  advance  was  less  rapid. 


XII. 

ENGLISH    SETTLERS    IN    NORTH    CAROLINA. 


:HILE  Spain  planted  colonies  in  the  West  Indies,  achieved 
the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and,  ever  in  search  of  gold,  with  the 
sword  carried  the  cross  among  the  feeble  natives  of  the  trop- 
ics,—  and  France,  with  the  aid  of  the  Roman  Church,  se- 
cured a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade,  and  attempted  the  domin- 
ion of  the  north  by  the  establishment  of  trading-posts  and 
missions,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  —  England, 
though  her  navigators  had  explored  the  coast  of  America, 
made  no  attempt  to  colonize  the  country  which,  equally  with  her  rivals, 
she  claimed  by  right  of  discovery  or  exploration.  But  coming  later  into  the 
work  of  colonization,  under  a  different  policy  and  more  liberal  auspices, 
the  English  at  last  planted  colonies  which  ultimately  extinguished  the 
dominion  of  Spain  and  France  in  all  the  vast  region  north  of  Mexico. 
The  first  English  colony  planted  in  America  was  established  on  Ro- 
anoke  Island,  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  under  the  auspices  of 
Raleigh,  afterwards  distinguished  as  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Cabot,  Fro- 
bisher,  and  Gilbert  had  failed  in  establishing  any  settlement,  though 
they  had  made  some  attempts  to  do  so  in  a  more  northern  latitude. 
Raleigh,  who  was  a  step-brother  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  after  the 
death  of  the  latter,  who  was  lost  at  sea,  obtained  a  liberal  patent  from 
Queen  Elizabeth,  giving  him  almost  absolute  jurisdiction  over  an  exten- 
sive territory  of  which  he  had  power  to  make  grants  according  to  his 
pleasure.  He  determined  to  establish  a  settlement  in  the  balmy  regions 
of  the  south,  from  which  the  French  Huguenots  had  been  excluded  by 
the  bigotry  of  the  Spaniards,  and  he  found  little  difficulty  in  obtaining 

103 


1 04 


ENGLISH  SETTLERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


adventurers  who  were  willing  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  the  country 
which  had  been  described  as  so  delightful.  Two  vessels  were  fitted 
out  and  laden  with  men  and  ample  provisions,  and  the  company  sailed 
from  England,  in  1584,  with  the  expectation  of  making  a  settlement  some- 
where in  those  pleasant  regions.  By  the  way  of  the  West  Indies  they 
at  last  reached  the  coast  of  America  off  the  Carolinas.  It  was  in  the 
summer  season,  and  the  weather  was  propitious  for  calm  seas,  so  that 
they  approached  the  coast,  so  perilous  in  storms,  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances.  Sailing  along  the  shores  the  perfume  of  the  woods 
was  wafted  to  them  on  the  breeze  as  if  they  had  been  in  some  delicate 
garden  abounding  with  fragrant  flowers.  They  landed  off  Wocoken,  and 
with  thanksgivings  for  their  safe  arrival  took  formal  possession  of  the 
country  for  the  Queen  of  England. 

The  adventurers  were  delighted  with  the  country  and  the  placid  seas 
which  seemed  so  calm  and  pleasant  under  the  skies  of  July.  The  lux- 
uriant vegetation,  the  magnificent  forests,  called  forth  their  admiration, 
and  their  imagination  added  innumerable  attractions  to  the  real  beauty 
of  the  country  upon  whose  shores  they  barely  touched.  They  met  some 
of  the  natives,  who  appeared  peaceful,  gentle,  and  hospitable,  living  an 
Arcadian  life  in  consonance  with  the  delightful  country  they  inhabited. 
But  though  all  was  so  rose-colored  the  adventurers  were  not  inclined 
to  make  a  settlement  and  experience  the  pleasures  of  such  an  Arcadia. 
Satisfied  with  seeing  its  beauty,  and  imagining  its  untold  delights,  they 
returned  to  England,  carrying  with  them  two  of  the  natives  and  the  most 
glowing  accounts  of  the  attractiveness  of  the  country  they  had  visited. 
The  stories  grew  with  each  new  relation,  and  the  people  listened  with 
credulity  to  many  wonderful  tales.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  greatly  pleased 
with  the  reports  brought  her  of  the  beautiful  country  of  which  the  ad- 
venturers had  taken  formal  possession  in  her  name,  and  honored  it  by 
calling  it  Virginia,  in  token  of  her  unmarried  state.  For  this  discovery, 
as  it  was  called,  and  for  other  services,  Raleigh  was  knighted;  and  eager 
to  reap  the  benefit  of  his  proprietary  rights  in  this  "  paradise  of  the 
world,"  he  fitted  out  another  expedition,  with  a  more  definite  purpose 
of  colonizing  Virginia,  and  found  no  difficulty  in  securing  a  sufficient 
number  of  emigrants. 

This    expedition    consisted  of  seven  vessels,  carrying  upwards   of  a 


ILL-REQUITED  HOSPITALITY. 

hundred  colonists,  with  the  necessary  supplies  to  establish  a  settlement. 
The  fleet  was  commanded  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  a  man  of  ability 
and  distinction,  and  one  Ralph  Lane  was  deputed  by  Raleigh  as  gov- 
ernor of  the  colony.  Sailing  from  England  in  April,  1585,  by  way  of 
the  West  Indies,  where  they  traded  or  levied  tribute  in  the  Spanish 
ports,  they  arrived  off  the  Carolina  coast  in  the  latter  part  of  June. 
Here  they  did  not  find  the  clear  skies  and  calm  seas  which  the  for- 
mer adventurers  had  extolled,  but  experienced  rough  weather,  and  came 
near  being  wrecked.  But  at  last,  entering  Ocracoke  Inlet,  the  fleet  sailed 
along  the  smoother  waters  of  the  broad  Pamlico  Sound  till  it  reached 
the  Island  of  Roanoke.  This  island  was  then  well  wooded  and  pleas- 
ant, and  near  its  northern  extremity  a  place  was  selected  for  a  settle- 
ment, and  a  fort  and  houses  were  erected  with  a  spirit  that  betokened 
a  permanent  colony.  Manteo,  one  of  the  natives  who.  had  been  taken  to 
England  by  the  former  expedition,  had  returned  with  this  one,  and  he 
was  at  once  sent  to  the  main  land  to  announce  the  arrival  of  the  col- 
onists to  his  countrymen.  The  accounts  brought  by  the  preceding  ad- 
venturers in  regard  to  the  gentleness  and  hospitality  of  the  natives,  and 
the  friendly  feeling  of  Manteo,  led  the  colonists  to  expect  a  hearty  wel- 
come. They  were,  indeed,  received  with  hospitality,  inspired,  probably, 
by  fear  and  wonder,  and  this  might  perhaps  have  been  continued  with 
advantage  to  the  colony,  had  not  an  unjust  and  cruel  act  excited  the 
fears  and  revengeful  spirit  of  the  savages.  Grenville,  with  Lane  and 
others,  made  an  excursion  into  the  interior  of  the  main  land,  and  were 
entertained  by  the  natives  with  a  rude  but  generous  hospitality.  But 
in  one  of  the  Indian  villages  where  they  tarried  it  happened  that  a  sil- 
ver cup  had  attracted  the  eye  of  a  native,  and  excited  his  cupidity,  so 
that  he  slyly  appropriated  it.  When  its  restoration  was  demanded  it 
was  not  immediately  produced,  and  Grenville,  with  a  hasty  spirit  of  re- 
venge better  suited  to  the  untutored  savage  than  the  titled  Englishman, 
ordered  the  village  to  be  burnt,  and  the  standing  corn  in  the  meagre 
plantations  of  the  natives  to  be  destroyed.  This  inconsiderate  act,  com- 
mitted in  utter  ignorance  of  the  Indian  character,  was  intended  to  de- 
ter the  natives  from  the  repetition  of  such  an  offence,  but  produced  a 
very  different  effect;  it  aroused  a  spirit  of  hostility  and  revenge  in  the 
NO.  in.  14 


io6  ENGLISH  SETTLERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

savage  breast,  from  which  the  English  experienced  a  punishment  more 
fearful  than  they  inflicted. 

Soon  after  the  return  from  this  expedition  Grenville  sailed  with  the 
fleet  for  England,  and  Lane  and  his  company  were  left  to  complete  the 
settlement.  The  fort  of  palisades  and  earth  was  finished,  and  about  it 
several  houses  were  built,  but  nothing  was  done  in  the  way  of  culti- 
vating the  soil,  providing  subsistence,  or  otherwise  establishing  a  per- 
manent settlement.  The  fort  and  houses  being  completed,  the  colonists 
began  in  a  small  way  to  explore  the  country,  though  they  went  no  great 
distance  from  Roanoke  Island.  They  found  it  "  the  most  pleasing  ter- 
ritory in  the  world,"  and  the  soil  "  the  goodliest  under  the  cope  of  heav- 
en," and  they  declared  that  "  if  Virginia  had  but  houses  and  kine,  and 
were  inhabited  with  English,  no  realm  in  Christendom  were  comparable 
to  it."  They  marvelled  at  the  luxuriant  growth  and  productiveness  of 
maize,  tested  the  value  of  the  potato,  and  observed  the  culture  and  use 
of  the  poisonous  weed,  tobacco,  which  has  become  so  important  an  arti- 
cle of  agriculture  and  commerce,  and  some  of  them  acquired  the  habit 
of  using  it  after  the  Indian  fashion  of  smoking,  and  subsequently  intro- 
duced the  novelty  into  England.  While  engaged  in  these  unimportant 
explorations  they  made  some  further  acquaintance  with  the  Indians. 
To  these  the  strangers  appeared  to  be  a  superior  race  of  beings,  and 
as  there  were  no  women  among  them,  the  natives  imagined  they  were 
not  mortals.  Such  visitors  naturally  inspired  the  superstitious  savages 
with  fear,  and  they  would  gladly  have  got  rid  of  beings  who,  they  be- 
lieved, would  otherwise  eventually  destroy  them. 

The  desire  for  gold,  and  the  belief  that  it  would  be  found  here,  as 
the  Spaniards  had  found  it  in  more  southern  regions,  was  soon  made 
manifest  among  the  colonists;  and  as  soon  as  it  was  understood  by  the 
Indians  they  invented  a  story  to  lead  some  of  the  adventurers  far  into 
the  interior,  so  that  by  dividing  the  unwelcome  strangers  they  might 
more  easily  dispose  of  them.  As  the  English  understood  this  story,  the 
River  Roanoke  rose  so  near  the  Pacific  that  the  waves  of  that  ocean  were 
sometimes  dashed  into  its  waters;  its  banks  abounded  in  gold,  and  were 
inhabited  by  a  nation  who  were  skilled  in  the  art  of  refining  the  precious 
ore,  and  who  dwelt  in  a  city  whose  walls  were  studded  with  gems.  It 
was  a  credulous  age,  and  the  English,  smitten  with  the  desire  of  discov- 


DEMORALIZED    COLONISTS. 


107 


ering  gold,  believed  the  extravagant  stories.  Lane,  with  a  party  of  his 
followers,  made  the  attempt  to  ascend  the  Roanoke  and  reach  this  El 
Dorado,  and  though  they  encountered  great  difficulties,  and  yet  found  not 
the  slightest  indication  of  the  truth  of  the  Indian  reports,  they  contin- 
ued their  efforts  until  their  provisions  were  exhausted,  and  they  were 
therefore  forced  to  return.  Before  they  reached  the  settlement  they  were 
reduced  to  the  extremity  of  eating  the  dogs  that  accompanied  them. 
The  return  of  Lane  prevented  the  execution  of  a  plan  of  the  savages 
to  destroy  the  settlement  and  murder  those  left  there. 

That  the  savages  were  hostile  was  now  manifest  to  the  settlers,  and 
for  some  reason  they  believed  that  there  was  a  combination  of  several 
small  tribes  for  a  general  massacre  of  the  colony.  This  at  least  was  the 
excuse  for  an  act  of  treacherous  cruelty  on  their  part.  They  sought  an 
audience  with  Wingina,  a  prominent  chief,  and  it  was  granted  with  a 
readiness  which  indicated  entire  confidence  on  his  part  in  the  honor  of 
the  English.  But  though  received  in  a  hospitable  manner,  at  a  precon- 
certed signal  they  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  chief  and  his  companions 
and  murdered  them.  After  this  atrocious  treachery,  which  was  prompted 
by  their  fears  and  credulity,  the  colonists  well  might  feel  uneasy.  Another 
spring  had  come,  but  they  made  no  attempts  to  plant  seed  and  raise 
crops  for  their  subsistence,  and  now  looked  anxiously  for  supplies  and 
additional  numbers  from  England,  lest  they  should  be  overwhelmed  by 
a  countless  host  of  enemies  from  the  unknown  depths  of  the  continent. 
Most  of  them,  too,  were  tired  of  the  now  aimless  life  they  led  in  this 
"  most  pleasing  territory  in  the  world,"  and  longed  to  return  to  their 
native  land. 

This  homesick  desire  was  gratified  in  an  unexpected  manner.  While 
they  were  watching  for  the  arrival  of  a  ship  or  two  with  stores,  a  large 
fleet  appeared  off  the  coast,  and  anchored  outside  the  inlet  nearest  to 
the  settlement.  This  proved  to  be  the  fleet  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  who 
was  on  his  way  to  England  from  the  West  Indies,  and  who  had  come 
on  a  friendly  visit  to  the  colony  of  his  friend  Raleigh.  Drake  found  the 
colony  in  a  demoralized  condition,  and  in  order  to  inspire  it  with  some 
activity,  and  give  it  a  motive  for  continued  existence,  he  not  only  fur- 
nished supplies  of  food,  but  gave  them  a  vessel  of  seventy  tons,  and 
several  pinnaces  and  small  boats,  with  which  to  make  explorations 


io8  ENGLISH  SETTLERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

along  the  coast,  and  in  the  interior  waters,  under  the  direction  of  two 
experienced  seamen.  While  this  would  afford  them  an  object  of  pur- 
suit, and  might  result  in  the  selection  of  a  better  site  for  the  settlement, 
it  would  also  give  them  a  feeling  of  greater  security,  and  in  case  of 
extremity  might  be  the  means  of  returning  to  England. 

Unfortunately  the  generous  intentions  of  Drake  were  frustrated  by  a 
severe  storm  which  compelled  the  fleet  to  put  to  sea  for  safety,  and 
when  the  storm  subsided  the  vessel  and  boats  left  for  the  colonists  could 
not  be  found.  The  storm  had  swept  them  away,  and  wrecked  them  on 
the  dangerous  coast.  Drake,  however,  was  ready  to  furnish  other  means 
for  the  colonists  to  continue  the  exploration  of  the  coast,  which  he 
deemed  important  for  the  interests  of  Raleigh  and  of  future  emigrants. 
But  the  colonists,  from  Lane  down  to  the  humblest  member  of  the  com- 
pany, were  thoroughly  disheartened.  They  dreaded  seeing  Drake's  fleet 
sail  away  for  England,  leaving  them  still  banished  from  their  homes, 
and  begged  permission  to  return  with  him  to  their  native  land,  as  if  this 
were  their  last  chance  of  escaping  from  a  miserable  exile.  With  great 
reluctance  Drake  yielded  to  their  importunity,  and  stripping  the  houses 
of  their  slight  furniture  they  embarked,  after  a  sojourn  of  one  year  in 
the  country,  carrying  with  them,  as  their  only  acquisition,  a  small  sup- 
ply of  the  Indian  weed,  and  the  habit  of  smoking  it  after  the  manner 
of  the  natives. 

It  was  a  hasty  and  ill-advised  abandonment  by  Lane  of  the  enter- 
prise committed  to  his  charge ;  and  it  was  wholly  unnecessary,  for  Drake's 
fleet  was  but  a  few  days  on  its  way  when  a  ship  sent  by  Raleigh  ar- 
rived with  stores.  The  new-comers  found  the  vacant  settlement,  but 
no  further  trace  of  the  colonists,  and  they  returned  to  England  to  learn 
that  the  deserters  were  already  there.  Two  weeks  later  Sir  Richard 
Grenville  arrived  again  with  three  ships  well  laden  with  supplies,  and  a 
few  additional  colonists.  He  searched  the  coast  for  the  colony,  hoping 
it  had  merely  gone  to  some  more  favorable  locality;  but  finding  no  sign 
of  any  other  settlement,  he  determined  that  the  rights  of  England  to  the 
possession  of  the  country  should  not  be  altogether  abandoned,  and  left 
fifteen  men  to  hold  the  place  till  further  measures  could  be  taken  to 
re-establish  the  colony. 


XIII. 

THE    LOST    COLONY   OF    ROANOKE. 
GOSNOLD'S    FAILURE. 


ISCOURAGING  as  were  these  failures  to  plant  a  perma- 
nent English  colony  in  America,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  did 
not  abandon  his  cherished  purpose.  On  the  contrary,  he 
determined  to  make  a  new  effort,  in  which  a  wiser  policy 
.should  be  adopted.  The  former  colony  was  composed 
only  of  men  who  went  to  build  a  fort  and  a  few  houses 
for  shelter,  and  then  had  nothing  to  do.  Discontent,  and 
homesickness,  and  consequent  failure,  were  the  natural  re- 
sults. Raleigh  saw  this,  and  determined  now  to  send  out  emigrants 
with  wives  and  families,  prepared  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  establish 
their  homes  in  the  new  world.  Carrying  their  "  household  gods  "  with 
them,  they  would  not  be  longing  constantly  to  return  to  their  native  land 
and  friends.  Such  a  company  of  emigrants  was  without  great  difficulty 
collected,  and  to  encourage  them  in  making  a  permanent  settlement  a 
charter  of  incorporation  was  given  them  with  a  form  of  government 
for  the  "  City  of  Raleigh,"  which  they  were  expected  to  found.  They 
were  to  engage  in  agriculture,  and  raise  a  portion  of  their  subsistence, 
instead  of  depending  upon  England  for  constant  supplies;  and  ample 
provision  was  made  for  this  purpose.  The  pursuits  of  industry  and  the 
presence  of  women,  it  was  considered,  would  attach  them  strongly  to 
their  new  homes.  A  gentleman  of  ability,  John  White,  was  appointed 
governor,  who,  with  eleven  assistants,  was  to  administer  the  affairs  of 
the  colony. 

It  was  in    the    spring    of   1587  that   this    new  company  sailed    from 

109 


IIO  THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE. 

England,  and  in  the  early  summer  they  arrived  off  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina.  It  was  intended  by  Raleigh  and  his  associates  that  the  new 
settlement  should  be  somewhere  on  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  but 
the  emigrants  were  first  to  visit  Roanoke  Island,  and  take  with  them 
the  men  left  there  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville.  Arrived  at  the  island, 
they  found  the  houses  deserted  and  in  ruins,  and  tenanted  only  by  birds 
and  wild  deer.  In  the  rank  grass  and  weeds  that  grew  around  them 
were  scattered  human  bones,  the  only  vestige  of  the  unfortunate  garri- 
son left  by  Grenville;  they  had  doubtless  been  killed  by  the  Indians, 
whose  hostility  he  had  so  inconsiderately  aroused  on  his  first  visit  to 
the  country.  The  place  spoke  only  of  ruin  and  disaster,  and  well 
might  White  and  his  company  desire  to  hasten  on  to  their  destina- 
tion in  Chesapeake  Bay,  to  establish  their  settlement  where  they  would 
:not  be  constantly  reminded  of  the  failure  and  death  of  their  predecessors. 
But  now  a  difficulty  arose  which  prevented  the  carrying  out  of 
Raleigh's  orders.  The  commander  of  the  ship  was  anxious  to  return 
'to  the  West  Indies  to  trade,  that  he  might  make  a  profitable  voyage, 
and  he  refused  to  explore  the  coast  in  search  of  a  better  site  for  a 
settlement.  He  had  brought  the  colony  to  America,  and  he  would 
not  submit  either  to  the  orders  or  entreaties  of  White  to  make  explo- 
rations which  might  detain  him  too  long  from  his  anticipated  profits. 
Nothing  remained,  therefore,  for  the  colonists  but  to  settle  at  Roanoke, 
and  found  there  the  city  which  Raleigh  had  chartered,  and  which  he 
had  hoped  would  be  built  on  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  fort  and  houses 
built  by  Lane  were  repaired,  and  a  few  additional  dwellings  were 
erected.  With  proper  ceremonies,  the  settlement  was  dignified  with 
the  name  of  the  "  City  of  Raleigh,"  and  lands  were  set  apart  for  cul- 
tivation in  accordance  with  Raleigh's  plan.  It  was  too  late  in  the 
.season,  however,  to  do  much  in  agriculture,  and  it  was  soon  seen  with 
alarm  that  the  colony,  for  more  than  a  year,  must  depend  upon  the  sup- 
plies brought  with  them  from  England,  and  these,  there  was  reason  to  fear, 
would  be  insufficient.  This  clouded  the  prospects  of  the  colony,  and  cast 
a  shadow  of  doubt  and  anxiety  over  the  future,  which  other  events  soon 
increased.  The  settlers  were  hardly  established  in  their  new  home 
when  a  neighboring  tribe  of  Indians  manifested  hostility,  and  coming 
one  day  upon  one  of  the  "  assistants,"  who  was  alone,  and  some  dis- 
tance from  the  fort,  they  killed  him.  This  event  added  to  the  uneasi- 


VIRGINIA   DARE. 

ness  of  the  colony.  The  emigrants  had  believed  that  they  were  coming 
to  a  delightful  region,  full  of  beauty  and  fruitfulness,  whose  inhabitants 
were  gentle  and  hospitable.  They  now  found  that  they  were  exposed 
to  the  attacks  of  savages,  and  the  presence  of  women  and  children 
increased  the  danger  and  the  consequent  anxiety. 

Fortunately  all  the  natives  were  not  hostile.  The  tribe  of  Manteo, 
who  accompanied  the  first  expedition  to  England,  and  manifested  his 
friendship  to  Lane's  company,  continued  friendly,  and  welcomed  them 
to  the  region  they  inhabited.  But  the  settlers  were  so  fearful  of  attacks 
from  hostile  Indians,  and  so  ready  to  drive  them  off  by  anticipating 
the  attack,  that  they  once  came  near  making  enemies  of  their  friends 
by  firing  upon  a  band  of  Manteo's  tribe  while  they  were  resting  quietly 
in  their  camp.  The  mistake  was  discovered  before  the  whole  party 
of  natives  were  shot,  but  the  hasty  attack  alarmed  the  Indians,  and 
made  them  less  cordial  towards  the  whites.  Manteo,  however,  remained 
as  friendly  as  ever,  and  by  Raleigh's  order  he  was  invested  with 
the  dignity  of  nobility,  with  the  title  of  Lord  of  Roanoke.  Doubtless 
the  simple  native  was  highly  pleased  with  the  trinkets  with  which  he 
was  decorated,  and  it  confirmed  him  in  his  attachment  to  the  English. 

After  a  stay  of  two  months,  the  ship  which  brought  the  colonists 
prepared  to  depart.  Discouraged  at  the  prospect  before  them,  with 
limited  supplies,  and  surrounded  by  hostile  natives,  the  settlers  united 
in  urging  White,  the  governor,  to  return  and  obtain  re-enforcements 
and  further  provisions.  Reluctant  to  leave  the  colony  committed  to  his 
charge,  he  at  first  refused,  but  the  entreaties  of  the  settlers  were  so 
urgent  that  he  at  last  consented.  Previous  to  his  departure,  a  some- 
what remarkable  event  took  place,  being  the  baptism  of  the  first  child 
of  English  parents  who  was  born  in  America.  White's  daughter,  who 
was  the  wife  of  one  of  his  assistants  named  Dare,  about  this  time  gave 
birth  to  a  daughter,  and  the  baptism  of  the  child  was  celebrated  with 
all.  the  solemnity  befitting  the  occasion  and  the  uncertain  prospects  of 
the  colony.  From  the  name  which  Queen  Elizabeth  had  given  the 
country,  she  was  named  Virginia.  A  new  tie  now  bound  White  to 
the  settlement,  but  it  was  urged  as  a  stronger  reason  why  he  should 
return  to  England  and  secure  further  aid;  and  soon  after  he  bade 
farewell  to  his  daughter  and  her  child,  and  sailed,  with  the  determina- 
tion to  bring  back  the  requisite  aid  as  speedily  as  possible. 


112  THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE. 

A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  name  of  Virginia  Dare.  The 
first  English  child  born  in  America,  the  daughter  of  a  gentleman  prom- 
inent in  the  colony,  and  baptized  under  a  name  which  might  commend 
her  to  the  favor  of  the  queen,  had  she  lived,  and  the  colony  prospered, 
a  career  of  some  distinction  might  have  awaited  her.  But  all  that  is 
known  of  her  is  her  birth  and  baptism.  Her  fate,  and  that  of  the 
unfortunate  colony  after  the  departure  of  White,  are  shrouded  in  mys- 
tery. Upon  reaching  England,  White  found  the  government  and  people 
engrossed  in  preparations  for  defence  against  a  threatened  invasion  by 
the  Spaniards.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  however,  faithful  to  the  interest  of 
the  colony  he  had  planted,  was  able  to  fit  out  two  ships  with  the 
necessary  supplies,  and  White  embarked,  with  a  fair  hope  of  carrying 
the  needed  aid  before  the  colony  was  reduced  to  want.  But  at  that 
period  every  private  vessel  was  a  ship  of  war,  and  all  navigators  but 
little  better  than  buccaneers.  The  opportunity  to  capture  Spanish  ves- 
sels, laden  perhaps  with  wealth  from  Mexico  or  the  West  Indies,  was 
a  temptation  not  to  be  resisted  by  the  commanders  and  crews  of  the 
two  ships,  and  they  went  out  of  their  true  course  in  pursuit  of  such 
prizes.  But  they  unfortunately  fell  in  with  a  formidable  war  vessel  of 
Spain,  and  after  a  desperate  fight  were  themselves  plundered,  and  forced 
to  return  to  England  in  a  crippled  condition.  Raleigh's  resources 
were  unequal  to  fitting  out  another  expedition,  and  the  threatened  Span- 
ish invasion  so  engrossed  the  attention  of  all  Englishmen,  that  the 
infant  colony  was  left  unsuccored,  if  not  forgotten. 

When  at  last  the  mighty  Armada  of  Spain  was  shattered  by  storm,  and 
driven  home  by  English  valor,  and  Raleigh  could  again  give  his  thoughts  to 
his  interests  in  the  new  world,  he  was  wholly  unable  to  send  out  any 
further  aid  with  his  own  resources.  But,  unwilling  to  abandon  an  enter- 
prise in  which  he  felt  so  deep  an  interest,  after  long  delays,  and  in  spite 
of  many  obstacles,  he  formed  a  company,  to  whom  he  granted  great 
privileges  under  his  patent;  and  after  the  lapse  of  three  years  since  the 
return  of  White,  a  vessel  was  fitted  out  in  which  he  returned  to  seek 
his  daughter.  It  was  too  late.  The  settlement  on  Roanoke  Island  was 
deserted  and  in  ruins,  and  no  trace  of  the  colonists  was  found,  except 
an  indistinct  inscription  on  the  bark  of  a  tree,  which  indicated  that  they 
had  gone  to  an  island  named  Croatan.  But  White  could  not  compel 
or  induce  the  captain  of  the  vessel  to  make  further  search,  and  the 


A   DESERTED   SETTLEMENT.  II3 

stormy  season  was  made  an  excuse  for  returning  to  England.  With 
what  feelings  White  was  thus  forced  again  to  abandon  the  hope  of  seeing 
his  child,  and  succoring  his  friends,  may  be  imagined.  It  was  the  last 
chance.  Time  sped  on;  and  though,  in  subsequent  years,  some  search 
was  made  for  the  lost  colonists,  no  tidings  were  ever  obtained. 

What  had  become  of  the  vanished  colony?  When  White  returned 
to  England  for  supplies,  he  left  in  the  settlement  eighty-nine  men,  seven- 
teen women,  and  two  children.  If  they  had  perished  from  want,  or 
some  fatal  epidemic,  or  been  murdered  by  the  savages,  there  would 
probably  have  been  some  remains  to  tell  the  story.  That  they  should 
all  perish  from  want  is  not  probable,  so  long  as  there  was  any  friendly 
tribe  near  them;  and  the  friendship  of  Manteo's  family,  at  least,  was 
assured.  Nor  is  it  more  probable  that  hostile  savages,  to  whom  fire- 
arms were  a  terror,  would  easily  destroy  a  colony  defended  by  so  many 
armed  Englishmen.  A  siege  might  have  reduced  the  settlers  to  starva- 
tion, and  a  capitulation  which  resulted  in  a  massacre;  but  the  Indians 
did  not  conduct  their  wars  in  that  manner,  and  a  massacre  would  have 
left  its  traces  in  the  bleaching  bones  of  the  slain.  That  the  colonists 
abandoned  their  settlement  is  quite  probable;  but  whether,  despairing  of 
receiving  succor  from  England,  they  went  voluntarily  to  live  with  a 
friendly  tribe  of  natives,  or  the  survivors  of  repeated  conflicts  were  car- 
ried into  a  hopeless  captivity,  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  Long  after- 
wards, when  settlements  had  been  successfully  established  by  succeeding 
generations  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  natives  were  dwindling  away,  it 
was  said  to  be  a  tradition  among  the  Hatteras  Indians  that  a  company 
of  whites  had  been  adopted  into  their  tribe,  and  the  races  became  amal- 
gamated ;  and  it  was  thought  that  the  appearance  of  many  of  this  tribe 
indicated  that  the  tradition  was  well  founded.  This  tradition,  and  its  al- 
leged confirmation,  offer  a  possible,  but  by  no  means  satisfactory,  solu- 
tion of  the  mystery.  If  it  be  true,  what  was  the  fate  of  Virginia  Dare? 

Before  proceeding  to  the  story  of  more  successful  efforts  at  coloniza- 
tion, it  is  proper  to  allude  to  an  expedition  which  came  near  establish- 
ing the  first  permanent  English  settlement  in  America  within  the  limits 
of  New  England.  The  English  had  now  begun  to  visit  frequently  the 
coasts  of  the  country,  to  which  they  applied'  the  general  name  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  Bartholomew  Gosnold  fitted  out  a  small  vessel  for  trading 

NO.  in.  15 


GOSNOLD' S  FAILURE. 

purposes,  and  with  a  view  to  establish  a  trading  post  at  some  favorable 
point,  which  should  result  in  a  permanent  settlement.  Unlike  his  pred- 
ecessors in  voyaging  to  America,  he  did  not  sail  by  the  circuitous 
route  by  the  Canaries  and  West  Indies,  but  steered  directly  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  first  saw  land  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  He  landed 
first  on  Cape  Cod,  to  which  he  gave  its  name,  but  finding  no  good 
harbor,  and  no  opportunity  to  trade  or  obtain  any  valuable  cargo,  he 
proceeded  south,  and,  passing  westward,  he  reached  an  island  whose 
luxuriant  vegetation  seemed  to  offer  inducements  to  tarry,  and  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  Elizabeth,  in  honor  of  the  queen.  The  name  is 
still  preserved  in  the  group  to  which  this  island  belongs.  Landing  to 
explore  the  island,  Gosnold  and  his  companions  were  delighted  with 
the  rich  foliage  of  the  early  summer,  and  the  promise  of  wild  fruits 
with  which  it  seemed  to  abound.  There  grew  in  abundance  the  straw- 
berry and  raspberry,  just  showing  fruit  and  blossoms,  and  grape-vines 
were  throwing  out  their  tendrils  high  up  on  the  trees,  up  whose  sturdy 
trunks  and  branches  for  many  years  they  had  been  climbing.  And, 
more  valuable  to  the  adventurers  than  timber  or  fruits,  they  found  an 
abundance  of  the  sassafras  tree,  the  root  of  which  was  then  greatly 
esteemed  as  a  potent  drug.  Not  far  inland,  they  discovered  a  pond,  in 
which  was  a  little  rocky  island,  and  here  they  established  a  storehouse 
and  fort,  where  it  was  proposed  that  a  part  of  the  company  should 
remain,  gathering  the  precious  root  for  future  freights,  and  holding  the 
place  till  new  colonists  and  supplies  should  come.  The  main  land  was 
also  visited,  and  by  trafficking  with  the  natives  Gosnold  was  soon  able 
to  obtain  an  abundance  of  sassafras  root  and  some  furs,  so  that,  after  a 
month's  stay,  he  was  ready  to  return  to  England.  The  party  which  was 
to  remain  now  became  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  being  left  with  inad- 
equate supplies,  and  exposed  to  the  attack  of  savages,  and  all  refused 
to  be  left  behind.  The  fort  and  storehouse  were  accordingly  aban- 
doned, and  the  proposed  settlement  failed. 


XIV. 

JAMESTOWN   AND    CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 


LN  the  banks  of  the  river  called  by  the  Indians  Powhatan, 
and  by  the  English  named  the  James,  about  forty  miles 
from  its  mouth,  and  a  few  miles  below  the  junction  of 
the  Chickahominy,  was  established  the  first  permanent 
English  colony  in  America.  In  the  latter  part  of  April, 
i'>i>7,  three  small  ships,  the  largest  of  which  was  not  more 
than  a  hundred  tons  burden,  were  driven  by  a  storm  past 
the  shores  where  the  unfortunate  colony  of  Raleigh  had  been  planted, 
into  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  They  had  been  sent  out  by  a  com- 
pany which  had  received  a  charter  with  authority  to  plant  a  colony  in 
America,  and  which  included  in  its  number  some  of  those  who  had 
been  associated  with  Raleigh  in  his  later  enterprises,  and  were  inspired 
with  a  like  desire  to  settle  the  country  which  had  been  described  in 
such  glowing  colors.  Passing  through  Hampton  Roads  they  explored 
the  shores  of  the  bay,  and  sailed  up  the  broad  river.  The  land  was 
covered  with  a  magnificent  forest  just  putting  on  its  spring  verdure,  and 
here  and  there  broad  meadows  were  green  with  grass  already  waving. 
Fair  skies  and  warm  weather  made  the  region  most  attractive,  and 
"  heaven  and  earth  seemed  never  to  have  agreed  better  to  frame  a 
place  for  man's  commodious  and  delightful  habitation."  After  explor- 
ing these  attractive  shores  for  seventeen  days,  the  adventurers  selected 
the  site  for  their  settlement.  It  was  on  a  little  peninsula,  and  seemed 
to  them  to  offer  advantages  they  had  not  met  with  at  any  other  point; 
but  it  proved  to  be  an  ill-chosen  and  unhealthy  place.  Here  the  col- 

"5 


Il6  JAMESTOWN  AND  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

onists  landed  on  the  i3th  of  May,  1607,  and  began  to  prepare,  in  an 
indifferent  way,  to  establish  themselves  in  their  new  dwelling-place. 

It  was  a  company  little  adapted  to  the  purposes  in  view.  Of  the  one 
hundred  and  five  emigrants  only  twelve  were  laborers,  and  a  still  smaller 
number  were  mechanics;  the  rest  were  gentlemen  and  tradesmen,  who 
had  come  with  a  vague  hope  of  mending  their  shattered  fortunes,  or 
escaping  the  ills  that  had  befallen  them  at  home.  These  were  unac- 
customed to  labor  or  hardship,  and  were  consequently  the  last  men  who 
should  have  undertaken  to  settle  in  the  wilderness,  where  toil  and  en- 
durance were  necessary  to  subdue  the  forest  and  compel  the  untamed 
luxuriance  of  the  soil  to  yield  support  for  a  civilized  community.  For 
this  work,  so  essential  for  the  success  of  the  colony,  there  were  twelve 
laborers,  and  four  carpenters  were  to  build  the  dwellings  necessary  to 
shelter  the  company,  at  least  one  half  of  whom  knew  nothing  of  labor, 
and  being  bred  as  gentlemen  looked  upon  it  as  degrading.  In  the  com- 
pany were  some  worthy  men,  among  whom  was  Bartholomew  Gosnold, 
the  projector  of  the  settlement,  who  had  previously  visited  New  Eng- 
land and  sought  to  plant  a  colony  there,  Thomas  Studley,  the  treasurer, 
Wotton,  the  surgeon,  and  a  few  others,  who  honestly  desired  the  suc- 
cess of  the  expedition.  But  there  were  others  who  sought  only  their 
own  advancement  and  the  retrieving  of  their  broken  fortunes.  The  lead- 
ing men  of  this  class  were  Wingfield,  Ratcliffe,  and  Kendall ;  the  ablest 
and  the  only  man  really  capable  of  managing  the  affairs  of  the  settle- 
ment was  Captain  John  Smith.  The  former,  by  artful  and  false  insin- 
uations, succeeded  in  excluding  Smith  from  participation  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  colony  at  the  outset,  and  Wingfield  was  made  president 
of  the  council,  a  body  appointed  by  the  company  in  England.  Envious 
of  his  shining  qualities,  these  men  charged  Smith  with  sedition  and  aim- 
ing at  usurpation-;  but  not  being  able  to  prove  anything,  except  that  he 
possessed  superior  abilities  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  they 
abandoned  an  attempt  at  trial,  and  by  the  good  offices  of  the  clergy- 
man, Hunt,  he  was  restored  to  his  place  in  the  council. 

Smith  was,  indeed,  the  leading  spirit  of  the  colony,  and  the  man  of 
all  others  best  qualified  to  rule  it  and  secure  its  ultimate  welfare. 
Though  still  a  young  man,  he  had  led  a  remarkable  career,  met  with 
the  strangest  experiences,  shown  the  utmost  daring,  and  studied  human 


S5 

O 

H 
01 

w 
3 


A 
U 

h 

U 
to 

W 
X 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH.  ny 

nature  under  the  greatest  variety  of  circumstances.  Having  received  a 
fair  education  in  his  boyhood,  he  went  to  France,  where  he  learned  some- 
thing of  the  art  of  war  and  skill  in  the  use  of  arms.  He  afterwards 
went  to  the  Low  Countries  and  engaged  in  the  war  against  Spain, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  bravery  and  his  ardent  espousal 
of  the  cause  of  the  Netherlanders.  Then  he  travelled  in  France,  vis- 
ited Egypt,  and  wandered  through  Italy.  '  Eager  for  adventure  and  a 
more  exciting  and  active  life,  he  went  to  Austria,  and  made  his  way  to 
Wallachia,  where  the  Turks  were  engaged  in  war  against  the  Chris- 
tians, and  where  he  enlisted  under  the  Prince  of  Transylvania  against 
the  Moslem.  There  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  bravery,  and,  re- 
peating the  feats  of  the  days  of  the  Crusades,  vanquished  many  a  fol- 
lower of  Mahomet  in  single  combat.  But  at  last,  in  a  sudden  skirmish, 
a  party  with  which  he  was  acting  was  overpowered  by  superior  num- 
bers, and  he  was  left  wounded  on  the  field.  He  was  taken-  prisoner, 
and  sent  to  Constantinople  as  a  slave,  and  as  such  consigned  to  the 
service  of  a  Turkish  lady.  She  was  struck  with  his  looks  and  bear- 
ing, and  designing  to  save  him  from  being  sold  as  a  slave  in  the 
market,  sent  him  to  a  fortress  in  the  Crimea,  with  orders  that  he 
should  be  well  treated.  There,  however,  the  keeper  to  whose  charge 
he  was  consigned  treated  him  in  the  harshest  manner,  riveting  an  iron 
collar  on  his  neck,  and  subjecting  him  to  the  severest  tasks  in  company 
with  brutish  serfs.  Smith  could  not  long  endure  this.  Rebelling  against 
the  indignity  and  cruelty  inflicted  upon  him,  he  killed  his  oppressor,  and 
mounting  the  horse  of  the  latter  sought  safety  in  flight.  Ascertaining 
the  roads  which  led  towards  the  Russian  territory,  he  succeeded  in 
reaching  it,  found  relief  from  his  hunger  and  weary  toil  by  the  kind- 
ness of  a  Russian  woman,  and  at  last  travelled  across  the  country  to 
Transylvania.  His  former  comrades  hailed  his  return  with  joy,  for  his 
bravery  was  worth  more  than  numbers  to  them.  But  Smith  was  now 
desirous  of  returning  to  his  own  country,  and  would  not  yield  to  their 
solicitations  to  join  them  in  further  warfare.  He  started,  therefore,  for 
England,  but  before  reaching  it  the  spirit  of  adventure  was  again  aroused 
within  him  by  rumors  of  war  in  Morocco,  and  thither  he  hastened  in 
search  of  new  dangers.  At  last  he  returned  to  England,  and  found  that 
a  new  field  of  adventure  was  opening  in  the  attempts  to  colonize  Vir- 


n8  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

ginia.  His  active  mind  immediately  engaged  with  enthusiasm  in  this 
undertaking,  and  he  eagerly  joined  the  company  which  was  preparing 
to  sail  with  Newport.  His  active  mind,  rich  in  experience,  his  confi- 
dent bearing,  his  enthusiasm,  and  his  wise  suggestions  as  to  the  man- 
agement of  affairs,  on  the  voyage,  showed  that  he  was  the  man  to  lead 
in  the  new  enterprise,  and  excited  the  hostility  of  the  gentry  who  as- 
sumed to  be  the  leaders,  and  they  laid  their  plot  to  get  rid  of  him  by 
trying  and  condemning  him  for  imaginary  crimes,  or  sending  him  back 
to  England  under  serious  charges.  Happily  for  the  existence  of  the 
colony,  the  plot  failed;  otherwise  there,  is  little  doubt  that  the  fate  of 
the  settlement  at  Jamestown  would  have  been  like  that  of  Raleigh's 
unfortunate  colonies. 

The  first  preparations  for  a  settlement  were  clearing  the  ground 
and  pitching  tents.  Wingfield,  the  president  of  the  council,  would  not 
allow  any  military  preparations  or  fortifications,  but  consented  to  an 
enclosure  made  of  the  branches  of  trees  thrown  together,  which  would 
prove  quite  as  advantageous  to  the  savage  assailants  as  to  the  defenders 
of  the  place.  Trees  were  felled,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
shelter  more  substantial  than  tents,  and  partly  for  freighting  the  vessels. 
Gardens  were  laid  out  and  planted  to  a  limited  extent.  Goods  were 
landed,  and  the  emigrants  took  up  their  abode  on  shore,  giving  to  the 
place  the  name  of  Jamestown,  in  honor  of  the  king.  The  work  pro- 
ceeded but  slowly,  for  there  were  more  gentlemen  lounging  about  in 
idleness,  or  assuming  to  direct  affairs,  than  there  were  laborers  and 
sailors  to  put  their  hands  to  the  toil.  Ever  active  and  ready  for  emer- 
gencies, Smith  not  only  gave  direction  to  the  work,  but  himself  joined 
in  the  labor.  The  Indians,  who  witnessed  these  proceedings  with  some 
amazement,  manifested  a  friendly  disposition,  although  some  previously 
met  with  had  shown  hostility. 

While  these  preparations  were  in  progress,  Newport,  the  commander 
of  the  ships,  with  Smith  and  twenty  others,  proceeded  in  boats  up  the 
river  to  discover  its  head,  it  being  imagined  that  from  its  head-waters 
another  river  might  flow  westward  into  the  South  Sea,  as  the  Pacific 
Ocean  was  then  called.  The  natives  received  them  with  great  hospi- 
tality, and  being  repaid  with  gifts  of  bells  and  other  trinkets,  were  all 
the  more  eager  to  bring  offerings  of  bread  and  fruits.  Proceeding  slowly 


to 

A 
Id 

H 
H 
Id 
w 

O 


z 


AN  ATTACK  BT  INDIANS. 


119 


up  the  river,  in  six  days  they  arrived  at  a  place  called  Powhatan,  the 
name  given  by  the  natives  to  the  river,  and  borne  also  by  the  principal 
chief  of  the  tribe  dwelling  in  this  region.  The  place  consisted  of 
twelve  lodges  or  wigwams,  pleasantly  situated  on  high  land,  about  which 
were  many  cornfields,  planted  in  the  rude  manner  of  native  agricul- 
ture. From  this  point  the  falls  were  reached  thes  ame  day,  and  a  cross 
was  set  up  to  indicate  the  limit  of  their  progress.  Powhatan  received 
his  strange  visitors  with  hospitality,  and  was  requited  with  some  trifling 
gifts,  and  after  a  short  stay,  the  explorers  returned  down  the  river. 
Hitherto  the  Indians  had  behaved  in  a  friendly  manner;  but,  as  the 
boats  reached  a  point  some  twenty  miles  above  the  new  settlement, 
there  were  evident  signs  of  hostility  and  some  arrows  were  discharged 
at  them  from  the  shore. 

During  the  absence  of  this  party,  tnose  remaining  at  the  settlement 
experienced  more  severely  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  The  latter  per- 
haps imagined  that  the  warriors  of  the  white  men  had  gone  on  the 
expedition  up  the  river,  and,  according  to  the  custom  of  savages,  they 
made  a  sudden  attack  on  the  unarmed  men  who  were  engaged  in  plant- 
ing. A  boy  was  killed,  and  seventeen  men  were  wounded  by  the  flight 
of  arrows  shot  from  a  neighboring  thicket.  Fortunately  the  attack  was 
observed  on  board  one  of  the  ships,  and  a  shot  from  a  cannon  crashing 
through  the  trees  alarmed  the  Indians,  and  they  quickly  withdrew.  But 
for  this  the  unarmed  settlers  might  speedily  have  fallen  under  the  tom- 
ahawk and  scalping-knife.  This  event  showed  the  obstinate  president 
the  necessity  both  of  fortifications  and  military  preparation,  and  accord- 
ingly a  palisade  fort  was  constructed,  cannon  mounted,  and  the  men 
exercised  with  arms.  These  preparations  prevented  any  repetition  of 
the  attack,  but  careless  stragglers  were  not  infrequently  wounded  by 
the  arrows  of  lurking  savages. 

Newport  soon  after  sailed  with  his  ships  for  England,  leaving  a  hun- 
dred settlers,  and  enough  provisions,  as  was  supposed,  to  last  them 
three  months.  The  departure  of  the  ships  was  like  breaking  the  last 
link  that  bound  them  to  their  native  land,  and  the  colonists  soon  became 
despondent.  The  hopes  which  the  beauty  and  luxuriance  of  the  country 
had  aroused  speedily  vanished.  They  were  left  in  the  wilderness, 
surrounded  by  savages  who  were  inclined  to  hostile  acts,  though  they 


120  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

had  lately  professed  friendship.  The  wretched  material  of  which  the 
colony  was  composed  made  it  all  the  more  subject  to  discontent  and 
despondency.  Unaccustomed  to  labor,  and  prostrated  by  the  heat  of 
the  summer,  most  of  them  passed  their  days  in  idleness,  which  served 
to  nurse  their  unhappiness.  The  ill-advised  selection  of  the  site  for  the 
settlement  soon  became  apparent.  It  was  low,  and  exposed  to  the 
malaria  of  extensive  marshes,  which  engendered  a  fatal  sickness.  The 
idle  and  careless  habits  of  the  colonists  rendered  them  less  capable 
of  resisting  the  attacks  of  disease,  and  they  soon  fell  victims  to  it.  At 
one  time,  there  were  scarcely  five  men  able  to  guard  the  fort,  and  for 
weeks  the  tents  and  huts  were  filled  with  the  dying,  whose  sufferings 
could  not  be  relieved  by  those  less  severely  afflicted.  At  times  three 
or  four  died  in  one  night,  and  there  were  hardly  enough  able  to  drag 
forth  the  dead  for  a  hasty  burial.  By  September  fifty  of  the  one  hun- 
dred died,  and  among  them  Gosnold,  who,  next  to  Smith,  was  the  most 
valuable  man  in  the  company,  and  had  done  much  to  preserve  some 
sort  of  harmony  among  the  discordant  elements.  During  this  season 
of  sickness  and  death,  Smith,  by  his  more  careful  habits,  his  constant 
occupation,  and  his  constitution,  inured  to  hardship,  escaped  the  disease, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  relief  of  the  suffering.  Wotton,  the  surgeon, 
also  constantly  ministered  to  the  sick. 

During  the  sickness,  the  provisions  failed,  and  the  want  of  proper 
food  added  to  the  misery  of  the  sufferers.  In  addition  to  this,  Wing- 
field,  the  president,  was  accused  of  appropriating  the  public  stores  to 
his  own  use,  and  thus  living  in  plenty,  while  the  others  suffered  want. 
When  the  mutterings  of  discontent  aroused  by  his  baseness  reached 
Wingfield's  ears,  he  attempted  to  escape  in  the  pinnace,  which  had 
been  left  for  the  use  of  the  colonists,  and  sail  for  the  West  Indies.  But 
his  treachery  was  discovered,  and  the  survivors  of  the  colony  arose  in 
indignation  and  deposed  him,  choosing  Captain  John  Ratcliffe  in  his 
place.  Kendall,  who  was  a  confederate  of  Wingfield,  was  also  removed 
from  the  council.  The  choice  of  Ratcliffe,  however,  was  of  little  ben- 
efit to  the  colony.  He  was  inefficient  at  a  time  when  the  colony  most 
needed  capacity  and  energy  to  save  it  from  destruction,  and  he  soon 
became  unpopular.  Under  his  maladministration  the  colonists  would 
have  starved  but  for  the  good  will  of  the  Indians,  who  brought  them 


SMITH  IN  COMMAND.  121 

supplies.  At  this  stage  the  management  of  affairs  devolved  upon  Smith, 
who  alone  showed  himself  competent  to  the  task.  He  acted  as  "  cape- 
merchant,"  or  treasurer,  and  assuming  command,  with  Ratcliffe's  con- 
sent, he  set  the  colonists  to  work  to  build  houses  better  adapted  to  afford 
shelter  in  the  coming  winter  than  .the  tents  and  frail  huts  in  which  they 
had  hitherto  lived.  The  grass  in  the  meadows  was  cut  and  used  for 
thatching  the  houses,  and  in  a  short  time  some  comfortable  habitations 
were  constructed,  capable  of  housing  the  greater  part  of  the  company. 
A  roug-h.  barn-like  structure  was  also  built,  in  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hunt 

O       ~  / 

held  daily  service,  according  to  the  forms  of  the  church  of  England. 
In  the  mean  time,  some  of  the  men  were  employed  in  catching  fish  for 
the  sustenance  of  the  colony,  and  when  the  work  of  building  was  well 
advanced,  Smith  embarked,  with  six  men,  in  a  boat,  to  go  in  quest  of 
supplies.  Visiting  a  small  Indian  village,  the  party  was  met  by  the 
natives  with  hostility,  but  a  discharge  of  fire-arms  so  alarmed  them 
that  they  speedily  brought  him  the  supplies  for  which  he  asked,  furnish- 
ing a  quantity  of  venison,  wild  fowl,  and  corn.  The  success  of  this 
expedition  induced  Smith  to  make  others,  and  by  his  visits  to  various 
Indian  villages  he  obtained,  from  time  to  time,  a  supply  of  corn  and 
venison  sufficient  to  sustain  the  colony.  While  absent  on  one  of  these 
expeditions,  Wingfield  and  Kendall,  with  a  few  confederates,  again 
attempted  to  desert  the  colony,  and  sail  away  in  the  pinnace.  Fortu- 
nately Smith  returned  just  as  they  were  about  to  put  their  plot  in  execu- 
tion, and,  without  waiting  to  parley,  he  opened  so  hot  a  fire  upon  them 
that  they  were  compelled  to  surrender  or  sink.  Kendall,  who  was  the 
boldest,  and  the  leader  among  the  conspirators,  was  tried  by  a  jury, 
and  being  convicted,  was  shot.  This  result,  however,  did  not  prevent 
a  repetition  of  the  attempt;  and  not  long  after,  RatclifFe  and  one  Captain 
Archer  planned  a  similar  escape  from  their  hardships,  but  it  was  foiled 
by  the  vigilance  and  resolution  of  Smith. 

With  the  approach  of  winter  came  an  immense  flight  of  wild  fowl 
from  the  north,  and  the  river  and  inlets  were  filled  with  ducks.  The 
waters  yielded  also  an  abundant  supply  of  fish.  Persimmons  and  wild 
peas  were  plenty,  and,  with  what  corn  they  could  obtain  from  the 
Indians,  the  settlers  now  found  no  lack  of  wholesome  food.  But  they 
were  careless  and  improvident  in  this  season  of  plenty,  and  recklessly 

NO.    IV.  1 6 


122  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

wasted  much  which  might  have  been  preserved  for  future  use,  in  spite 
of  Smith's  efforts  to  provide  against  a  less  propitious  time.  When  the 
wild  fowl  migrated  southward,  and  food  became  less  abundant,  the  idlers 
of  the  settlement,  who  did  little  except  to  consume  and  waste  the  sup- 
plies which  Smith  so  carefully  provided,  began  to  murmur,  and  utter 
complaints  against  him  because  he  had  not  traced  the  Chickahominy 
to  its  source,  whence,  as  they  believed,  a  way  would  be  speedily  dis- 
covered to  the  South  Sea.  The  discontent  at  last  extended  to  the 
council,  and  the  idea  of  remaining  in  permanent  exile  in  the  wilderness 
when  there  was,  as  they  believed,  a  probability  of  opening  a  new  way 
to  the  Indies,  and  obtaining  for  themselves  the  much  coveted  wealth  of 
the  Orient,  was  not  to  be  endured.  To  allay  the  growing  dissatisfaction, 
and  to  test  the  soundness  of  this  belief,  in  which  he  did  not  share, 
Smith  determined  to  make  another  voyage  up  the  Chickahominy,  and 
explore  it  to  its  source. 

He  accordingly  started,  with  nine  men,  in  a  barge,  accompanied  by 
two  Indian  guides,  and  proceeded  up  the  river  until  his  course  was 
obstructed  by  fallen  trees.  He  then  went  back  a  few  miles,  and  leav- 
ing the  barge  moored  in  a  wide  bay,  in  charge  of  seven  men,  with 
strict  orders  that  they  should  not  venture  on  shore  till  his  return,  he 
proceeded,  with  two  men  and  the  Indian  guides,  in  a  canoe,  some 
twenty  miles  farther  up  the  river.  Shortly  after  he  left  the  barge,  the 
men  in  charge,  disregarding  his  injunctions,  went  on  shore,  and  one  of 
them  was  surprised  and  killed  by  the  savages.  Smith,  unaware  of  this 
misfortune,  went  on  till  he  reached  the  marshy  ground  near  the  head 
of  the  river.  Being  in  want  of  food,  he  went  out  with  one  of  the  Indian 
guides  to  shoot  some  game.  The  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
were  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  attack  the  strangers,  and  while 
Smith  was  on  shore,  the  two  men  left  in  the  canoe  were  slain,  and  soon 
after  he  met  a  party  of  the  savages,  who  discharged  their  arrows  at  him. 
But  seeing  their  hostile  intentions,  he  made  a  shield  of  his  guide,  bind- 
ing him  by  the  arm  with  one  of  his  garters.  As  the  Indians  advanced, 
he  shot  one  of  them,  and  thus  kept  the  party  for  a  time  at  bay.  They 
continued,  however,  to  discharge  their  arrows  at  him,  some  of  which 
pierced  his  clothes  and  slightly  wounded  him.  He  then  endeavored  to 
reach  the  canoe,  walking  backwards  and  keeping  his  eye  on  the  enemy, 


SMITH  A   PRISONER. 

and  holding  the  guide  between  them  and  himself.  While  proceeding 
in  this  way  he  suddenly  sank  to  his  waist  in  a  muddy  stream.  While 
he  still  retained  his  arms,  the  Indians,  who  had  a  wholesome  fear  of 
their  mysterious  power,  were  afraid  to  approach  very  near  him;  but  the 
weather  was  cold,  and  he  was  becoming  chilled  in  the  mud,  from  which 
he  could  not  extricate  himself,  and  in  token  of  surrender  he  threw  away 
his  gun  and  pistol.  The  savages  seeing  this  soon  drew  him  out,  half 
dead  with  cold,  and  taking  him  to  a  fire,  chafed  his  limbs  till  he  was 
restored. 

Smith  had  previously  met  with  some  strange  experiences  among  bar- 
barians, and  he  had  learned  something  of  the  nature  of  the  savages 
whom  he  now  encountered.  His  presence  of  mind  did  not  desert  him 
in  this  trying  emergency,  and  he  coolly  inquired  for  the  chief  of  the 
tribe.  The  great  chief  of  Pamunkey,  Opechancanough,  was  pointed  out 
to  him,  and  Smith,  taking  a  small  mariner's  compass  from  his  pocket, 
presented  it  to  him,  pointing  at  the  trembling  needle,  which  still  held 
its  position  whichever  way  the  case  was  turned.  While  the  chief  was 
wondering  at  the  mystery  of  his  gift,  the  other  Indians  bound  the  pris- 
oner to  a  tree,  and  were  about  to  shoot  him  with  their  arrows,  when 
Opechancanough,  holding  up  the  compass,  bade  them  desist.  The  chief's 
command  was  promptly  obeyed,  and  after  a  brief  consultation  among  his 
captors,  Smith  was  again  unbound,  and  conducted  under  a  strong  guard 
to  an  Indian  town  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Chickahominy  swamp. 

This  town  consisted  of  thirty  or  forty  lodges,  and  as  the  warriors  ap- 
proached it,  men,  women,  and  children  swarmed  out  of  them  with  wild 
cries,  and  gazed  in  astonishment  upon  the  prisoner,  he  being  the  first 
white  man  that  most  of  them  had  seen.  Then  followed  a  war-dance, 
with  its  fearful  howls,  and  a  terrible  din  by  the  women  and  children,  who 
rejoiced  over  the  capture  of  the  mysterious  stranger.  A  great  feast  was 
then  prepared,  and  an  enormous  quantity  of  food  was  set  before  Smith, 
after  the  custom  of  the  Indians,  who  thus  treated  their  captives  when 
about  to  kill  them.  Smith's  fate,  however,  was  as  yet  undetermined, 
though  one  Indian,  whose  -son  he  had  mortally  wounded,  attempted  to 
avenge  the  loss  by  killing  him,  and  would  have  succeeded  but  for  the 
interposition  of  his  guards.  The  chief,  Opechancanough,  desired  to  make 
a  better  use  of  him  by  securing  him  as  an  ally.  He  was  intending  to 


124  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

make  an  attack  on  Jamestown,  and  he  offered  Smith  such  inducements 
as  seemed  to  the  savage  mind  most  powerful,  promising  him  life,  lib- 
erty, land,  and  wives  if  he  would  join  in  the  raid.  Learning  the  pur- 
pose of  the  chief,  the  wary  captive,  without  refusing  or  assenting  to 
the  proposal,  induced  his  captors,  under  some  pretence,  to  send  mes- 
sengers to  the  settlement,  and  by  them  he  sent  a  letter  written  upon 
the  leaf  of  a  book,  in  which  he  warned  the  settlers  of  the  intended  at- 
tack, and  directed  what  measures  should  be  adopted  to  impress  the  mes- 
sengers with  fear,  and  what  presents  should  be  sent  back  by  them.  The 
messengers  executed  their  errand,  and  brought  back  the  presents  with 
the  astonishing  story  that  the  mysterious  captive  had  made  the  paper 
speak  to  his  friends  and  tell  them  where  he  was.  This  served  to  im- 
press the  Indians  with  awe  as  for  a  supernatural  being,  or  one  having 
powers  far  beyond  their  most  cunning  sorcerers.  The  contemplated 
attack  on  Jamestown  was  abandoned,  and  Smith  was  conducted  from 
village  to  village,  exciting  everywhere  the  astonishment  and  curiosity 
of  the  natives.  Arriving  at  the  residence  of  Opechancanough,  the  sor- 
cerers were  summoned,  and  for  three  days  the  whole  tribe  were  en- 
gaged in  the  wildest  orgies  and  incantations  for  the  purpose  of  divin- 
ing the  character  of  the  prisoner,  and  whether  his  designs  were  friendly 
or  hostile.  The  effort  was  not  altogether  successful,  and  opinions  dif- 
fered as  to  the  disposal  to  be  made  of  him.  The  journey  was  then 
continued  till  it  reached  the  residence  of  Powhatan,  the  great  chief  of 
all  the  clans  in  this  region.  During  all  this  time  Smith  was  well  treated, 
and  furnished  with  abundance  of  food  and  fur  robes.  And  he  endeav- 
ored to  secure  the  good  will  and  confidence  of  his  captors,  as  well  as 
to  inspire  them  with  respect  for  his  superior  knowledge. 

At  last  the  prisoner  was  taken  to  the  residence  of  Powhatan,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Pamunkey  River.  The  great  chief  was  found  in  a  large 
lodge,  which  Smith  dignified  with  the  name  of  a  palace.  Adorned  with 
feathers  and  beads,  and  wearing  a  robe  of  furs,  he  reclined  on  a  raised 
seat  or  platform,  which  to  the  Englishman  seemed  a  throne,  while  at  his 
head  and  feet  respectively  sat  a  young  Indian  girl,  and  around  the  lodge 
were  seated  the  warriors  of  the  tribe  in  rows  as  if  for  a  council.  Be- 
hind the  warriors  stood  the  squaws,  adorned  in  gayest  Indian  fashion 
with  paint  and  feathers.  As  Smith  was  led  into  the  lodge  the  whole 


SAVED  BT  POCAHONTAS. 

assembly  set  up  a  terrific  yell,  whether  of  welcome  or  triumph  the  cap- 
tive might  well  doubt.  He  was  seated  on  a  mat  in  the  midst  of  the 
assembly,  when  a  squaw,  who  was  presumed  to  be  the  "  queen,"  brought 
him  water  for  washing,  and  another  brought  a  bunch  of  feathers  for  a 
towel.  Then  came  the  feast  which  usually  attended  such  extraordi- 
nary occasions,  and  that  being  finished,  a  long  consultation  followed,  in 
which  the  warriors  listened  with  grave  dignity  while  in  turn  they  ex- 
pressed their  views  concerning  the  captive.  The  purport  of  the  long 
talk  Smith  could  only  guess  from  the  gestures  and  violence  with  which 
some  of  the  Indians  uttered  their  brief  speeches;  but  the  consultation 
being  finished,  he  was  left  no  longer  in  doubt,  when  two  large  stones 
were  brought  in,  and  he  was  seized  by  several  of  the  warriors,  thrown 
down,  and  his  head  laid  upon  the  stones.  Others  snatched  up  their 
war-clubs  and  tomahawks,  and  brandishing  them  in  the  air,  threatened  his 
immediate  death.  The  fatal  blow  would  have  descended,  when  it  was 
arrested  by  the  cry  of  Pocahontas,  Powhatan's  favorite  daughter,  a  girl 
of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  who  entreated  her  father  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  spare  the  captive's  life.  The  savages  murmured  their  disap- 
proval, and  would  have  persisted  in  the  sacrifice,  but  Pocahontas  forced 
her  way  into  the  crowd  of  warriors,  and  throwing  her  arms  around  the 
captive,  laid  her  head  upon  his.  The  arm  ready  to  strike  was  again 
arrested,  and,  moved  by  this  strange  appeal  of  his  daughter,  Powhatan 
ordered  the  captive's  life  to  be  spared.* 

Already  inspired  with  awe  by  Smith's  mysterious  character  as  that 
of  a  superior  being,  the  Indians  regarded  this  interposition  of  the  chief's 
child  with  superstitious  reverence,  and  acquiesced  in  the  decision  of 
mercy. 

Grateful  to  the  child  who  had  thus  saved  his  life,  Smith  manifested 
his  thanks  in  a  way  which  won  her  confidence.  He  gave  her  such 

*  Such  is  the  purport  of  Smith's  own  account  of  his  condemnation  and  rescue,  but  there  is 
some  reason  to  believe  that  in  describing  his  own  adventures  he  drew  a  long  bow.  Some  of  the 
proceedings  are  not  altogether  in  accordance  with  the  customs  of  the  Indians,  and  he  may  have 
drawn  incorrect  inferences  from  some  of  their  actions.  Of  the  main  fact,  however,  that  he  was 
saved  by  the  intercession  of  Pocahontas  there  is  little  doubt,  though  there  are  not  wanting  icon- 
oclasts who  would  destroy  this  image  of  mercy  so -familiar  and  pleasing  to  the  youthful  student 
of  colonial  history. 


126  JAMESTOWN  AND    CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

trinkets  as  he  could  divest  himself  of,  and  fashioned  some  toys  to  please 
her  native  curiosity,  and  by  his  gentleness  secured  her  lasting  friend- 
ship, which  proved  of  inestimable  value  to  the  colony.  Powhatan  and 
his  followers,  ceasing  to  regard  him  as  an  enemy,  sought  to  make  him 
a  friend  and  ally  in  their  warlike  enterprises.  They  endeavored  to  in- 
duce him  to  join  them  in  an  attack  on  Jamestown,  but  without  excit- 
ing their  suspicions  he  succeeded  in  diverting  their  thoughts  into  other 
channels.  At  last,  upon  the  promise  of  two  great  guns  and  a  grind- 
stone, the  use  of  "which  they  had  in  some  way  discovered,  Powhatan 
agreed  to  send  him  back  to  Jamestown,  and  to  regard  him  as  his  son. 
With  two  Indians  for  guides  he  started  on  his  return,  and  it  was  not 
without  a  feeling  that  they  might  treacherously  despatch  him  as  he  slept, 
that  he  lay  down  with  them  in  a  deserted  wigwam  to  rest,  but  not  to 
sleep,  for  the  night.  The  next  day  he  arrived  safely  at  the  settlement, 
after  an  absence  of  seven  weeks,  to  the  great  joy  of  most  of  the  sur- 
viving settlers.  The  Indian  guides  were  treated  hospitably,  and  received 
a  number  of  presents  to  carry  back  to  Powhatan,  including  the  prom- 
ised cannon  and  grindstone. 

Escaping  from  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  Smith  was  now  in 
like  danger  from  his  own  countrymen.  Archer  had  been  illegally  ad- 
mitted to  the  council,  and  fearing  and  hating  Smith  on  account  of  his 
\vell-earned  distinction,  and  possibly  some  justly  administered  rebuke, 
with  some  of  his  confederates  he  trumped  up  a  charge  against  Smith 
on  the  strength  of  a  chapter  of  Leviticus,  and  procured  his  trial  for  the 
death  of  his  two  men  who  were  slain  by  the  Indians.  He  was  con- 
demned to  be  hanged,  but  the  opportune  arrival  of  Newport  saved  him 
from  a  fate  which  would  probably  have  brought  disaster  upon  the 
colony. 

When  Smith  returned,  the  number  of  colonists  had  been  reduced  to 
forty,  and  they  were  planning  an  escape  from  the  wilderness  and  a  re- 
turn to  England.  It  was,  perhaps,  to  remove  a  formidable  obstacle  to 
this  course  that  the  condemnation  of  Smith  was  plotted.  The  arrival 
of  Newport  with  additional  settlers  and  a  supply  of  provisions  gave  a 
new  aspect  to  affairs.  Smith  reported,  too,  that  there  was  an  abundance 
of  food  to  be  had  from  the  Indians,  and  that  their  friendship  was  secured 
through  the  kind  offices  of  Pocahontas,  and  accordingly  the  hopes  of  the 


JOHN    SMITH     A    CAPTIVE     AMONG     THE    INDIANS. 


THE  BURNT  SETTLEMENT  REBUILT. 

settlers  revived.  Soon  after  that  remarkable  Indian  girl  came  with  a 
train  of  attendants  bearing  gifts  of  corn,  venison,  and  furs  from  her 
father.  A  friendly  intercourse  between  the  settlers  and  the  natives  was 
thus  begun,  based  on  the  admiration  of  Pocahontas  for  Smith.  It  was 
followed  up  by  a  visit  from  Newport,  Smith,  and  others  to  Powhatan's 
residence,  and  a  presentation  of  various  gifts  to  the  chief  and  his  fam- 
ily. While  the  good  will  of  the  great  chief  of  the  Indians  was  thus 
secured,  and  the  danger  of  famine  seemed  to  be  averted  for  the  future, 
an  accidental  fire  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  little  settlement. 
It  originated  in  the  common  storehouse,  and  the  flames  spread  rapidly 
over  the  slight,  thatched  dwellings,  consuming  them  and  a  great  part 
of  their  contents,  and  reaching  even  the  palisades  that  formed  the  de- 
fences of  the  place.  The  loss  of  a  large  portion  of  their  stores  reduced 
the  settlers  to  short  allowance  again,  the  destruction  of  their  houses 
exposed  them  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and  they  were  again 
attacked  by  sickness,  which  in  many  cases  proved  fatal. 

After  a  stay  of  more  than  three  months,  Newport  again  sailed  for 
England,  and  with  him  the  colonists  sent  Wingfield  and  Archer,  who 
had  been  the  cause  of  no  little  trouble  and  discontent  by  their  selfish 
ambition  and  assumption  of  honors  and  emoluments.  RatclifFe,  the  pres- 
ident, was  no  less  selfish,  but  he  contented  himself  with  liberally  sup- 
plying his  own  wants  from  the  public  store,  and  showed  no  capacity 
for  managing  the  affairs  of  the  little  colony.  Upon  Smith  devolved  the 
care  which  no  one  else  seemed  capable  of  assuming,  and  scarcely  of 
sharing.  He  undertook  to  rebuild  the  settlement,  and  by  his  energy 
and  example  set  the  whole  company  at  work,  felled  trees,  constructed 
new  dwellings  and  another  church,  and,  as  spring  advanced,  prepared 
and  planted  some  small  fields.  Occupation  prevented  discontent  and 
despondency,  and  the  settlers  were  engaged  —  if  not  cheerfully,  at  least 
without  much  murmuring — in  their  work,  when  they  were  pleasantly 
surprised  by  the  arrival  of  another  ship  from  England  with  an  addi- 
tional number  of  settlers,  and  a  supply  of  stores  sufficient  to  last  six 
months. 

The  composition  of  this  accession  was  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
first  company  of  settlers,  and  was  calculated  to  be  of  little  advantage  to 
the  colony.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  emigrants  brought  by  New- 


I28  JAMESTOWN  AND    CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

port  and  this  last  ship,  thirty-three  were  gentlemen,  twenty-one  labor- 
ers and  servants,  six  tailors,  two  apothecaries,  two  jewellers,  two  gold- 
refiners,  two  goldsmiths,  a  gunsmith,  a  blacksmith,  a  cooper,  a  surgeon, 
a  tobacco-pipe  maker,  and  a  perfumer.  The  number  of  jewellers,  gold- 
refiners,  and  goldsmiths,  as  well  as  of  gentlemen,  shows  how  little  the 
wants  and  necessities  of  a  settlement  in  Virginia  were  understood.  The 
gold  fever  had  already  raged,  much  to  the  disgust  of  Smith,  who  was 
very  far  from  indulging  in  the  vain  dreams  of  imaginary  wealth.  The 
arrival  of  the  recruits  caused  it  to  return  with  increased  violence,  and 
"  there  was  no  talk,  no  hope,  no  work,  but  dig  gold,  wash  gold,  refine 
gold."  The  necessary  artisans  were  present  to  refine  and  work  the 
precious  metal,  it  was  only  requisite  to  find  it,  and  much  energy  and 
labor  were  wasted  in  searching  for  it,  which  would  have  been  of  some 
value  to  the  colony  if  devoted  to  agriculture.  The  only  result  was  a  dis- 
covery of  some  yellow  earth  which  proved  to  be  of  no  value. 

Smith  devoted  himself  to  more  useful  labors,  and  in  June,  1608,  with 
seven  gentlemen  and  seven  soldiers  embarked  in  a  barge  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exploring  Chesapeake  Bay.  They  explored  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  bay,  meeting  with  various  tribes  or  clans  of  Indians,  who  were 
rewarded  with  small  gifts  or  frightened  by  the  discharge  of  fire-arms, 
according  as  they  manifested  hospitality  or  a  defiant  hostility.  They 
afterwards  ascended  the  Potomac,  meeting  with  a  like  varied  reception 
at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  but  always  inspiring  them  with  awe  and 
alarm  whenever  they  appeared  in  a  threatening  attitude.  While  in  the 
Potomac  Smith  was  one  day  amusing  himself  with  spearing  fish  with 
his  sword,  when,  taking  one  of  the  victims  from  its  point,  he  was  struck 
and  stung  in  the  wrist  by  the  fish,  which  is  now  known  by  the  name  of 
"  stingray,"  or  "  stingaree,"  and  has  a  long,  serrated  tail,  flexible  like  a 
whip-lash,  and  armed  with  a  poisoned  sting.  The  wound  was  very 
painful,  and  soon  the  symptoms  became  so  alarming  that  Smith  believed 
it  would  prove  fatal,  and  gave  directions  for  his  burial  on  a  neighbor- 
ing island.  Fortunately,  however,  one  of  the  company  was  a  surgeon, 
who  exerted  his  skill  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferer,  and  the  effects  of 
the  poison  soon  passed  away. 

After  an  absence  of  several  weeks  the  explorers  returned  to  James- 
town, where  they  found  sickness  and  discontent  prevailing.  The  self- 


NEW  IMMIGRANTS  AND   GOLD-HUNTERS. 

indulgent  and  incompetent  president,  Ratcliffe,  could  no  longer  be 
tolerated,  and  he  was  removed,  and  Smith,  who  was  entitled  to  succeed, 
being  desirous  to  resume  his  explorations,  named  Scrivener  to  act  in  his 
stead.  With  six  gentlemen  and  as  many  soldiers  he  again  embarked 
about  the  end  of  July,  and  explored  a  number  of  the  rivers  and  creeks, 
and  made  his  observations  with  such  care  that  he  was  enabled  to  pre- 
pare a  map  giving  a  very  good  outline  of  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay 
and  the  rivers  flowing  into  it.  In  his  explorations  during  this  summer 
Smith  estimated  that  he  had  traversed  upwards  of  three  thousand  miles, 
and  had  been  in  Jamestown  only  three  days  during  three  months. 

Affairs  in  the  colony  meanwhile  had  not  prospered  for  want  of  effi- 
cient management,  and  Smith  now  consented  to  take  the  office  of  pres- 
ident. He  at  once  set  the  settlers  at  work  repairing  the  church  and 
storehouse,  erecting  magazines  for  stores,  and  reconstructing  the  fort. 
The  military  force  was  reorganized,  and  the  whole  company  was  mus- 
tered under  arms  for  exercise  every  Saturday,  and  scores  of  Indians 
came  and  watched  in  amazement  their  movements  and  their  target  prac- 
tice. Thus  order  and  discipline  were  restored,  and  the  settlement  pre- 
pared for  any  hostile  movement  of  the  treacherous  natives,  who  were 
duly  impressed  with  the  superior  power  of  the  English. 

At  this  time  Newport  again  arrived  from  England,  bringing  seventy 
new  emigrants,  one  of  whom  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  with  her 
maid,  —  the  first  Englishwomen  in  the  colony.  The  English  company 
who  held  the  charter  imposed  upon  Newport  the  performance-  of  one 
of  three  things,  which  were  impossibilities;  namely,  to  bring  back  a 
lump  of  gold,  to  discover  a  certain  passage  to  the  South  Sea,  or  to 
rescue  one  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  lost  colonists.  Disappointed  in  their 
expectations  of  profit,  they  also  required  that  the  colonists  should  load 
the  ship  with  commodities  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense  of  the 
voyage,  —  about  two  thousand  pounds,  —  and  threatened  that  if  this  were 
not  done  they  should  be  left  in  Virginia  as  banished  men. 

Such  orders  did  not  contribute  to  the  welfare  or  content  of  the  col- 
ony. The  desire  to  discover  gold  was  re-awakened,  and  Newport  was 
compelled  to  make  an  effort  to  discover  the  imaginary  passage  to  the 
Pacific,  and  even  to  send  an  expedition  to  the  south  in  a  fruitless  search 
for  some  survivor  of  Raleigh's  colony.  These  things  unsettled  the 

NO.  rv.  17 


1 3o  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

newly  established  industry  of  the  colony,  and  engaged  the  settlers  in 
fruitless  labors.  Newport  had  also  brought  some  presents  for  Powhatan, 
who  was  to  be  duly  crowned  as  king,  though  for  what  purpose  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine,  since  it  could  not  increase  his  authority  over  the 
tribes  of  which  he  was  the  great  chief. 

The  first  business  was  to  deliver  to  the  chief  the  presents  brought 
for  him,  and  perform  the  ceremony  of  coronation.  Accordingly  Smith, 
with  three  or  four  companions,  went  overland  to  the  usual  dwelling-place 
of  Powhatan,  to  invite  him  to  Jamestown  to  receive  the  honors  in  store 
for  him.  The  chief  was  absent,  but  native  messengers  were  sent  to  call 
him  home,  and  in  the  mean  time  Smith  and  his  companions  were  enter- 
tained in  a  remarkable  manner  by  Pocahontas  and  a  troop  of  Indian 
girls,  whose  performances  were  quite  as  startling  as  pleasing.  They 
made  a  fire  in  an  open  space  in  the  midst  of  the  woods,  and  seating 
Smith  and  his  companions,  with  two  or  three  aged  Indians,  on  mats 
before  it,  they  retired.  Soon  a  hideous  noise  of  shouts  and  shrieks  was 
heard  in  the  woods,  and  the  Englishmen,  seizing  their  arms,  laid  hold 
of  the  Indians,  fearing  a  hostile  attack.  But  Pocahontas  immediately 
came  forward  and  assured  Smith  that  no  harm  was  intended,  and  that 
he  might  kill  her  if  there  was  any  attempt  at  a  surprise.  Having  entire 
faith  in  the  friendship  of  the  "  princess,"  as  she  was  called,  Smith  reas- 
sured his  companions,  and  they  awaited  further  demonstrations.  Soon  a 
band  of  Indian  girls  emerged  from  the  woods,  their  nearly  naked  bodies 
painted  with  brilliant  colors,  and  adorned  with  feathers,  the  antlers  of 
deer,  and  various  other  savage  ornaments.  At  their  head  was  Poca- 
hontas, wearing  a  fine  pair  of  buck's  horns,  with  a  quiver  of  arrows  at 
her  shoulder  and  a  bow  in  her  hand,  and  some  fine  furs  hanging  at  her 
girdle,  —  a  veritable  Indian  Diana.  Her  followers  carried  swords, — 
obtained  from  the  English,  —  clubs,  and  apparently  whatever  implement 
they  could  seize  for  the  occasion.  With  piercing  shrieks  and  cries  in 
imitation  of  wild  beasts,  they  circled  round  the  fire,  dancing  after  the 
Indian  fashion  with  the  wildest  and  most  fantastic  motions.  This  per- 
formance continued  for  an  hour,  when  they  retired  again  to  the  woods, 
soon  after  returning  in  a  more  quiet  manner,  and  invited  the  guests  to 
their  lodges,  where  an  Indian  feast  was  served,  and  the  wild  singing  and 
dancing  continued  while  the  Englishmen  ate.  Then,  with  lightwood 


CORONATION  OF  POWHATAN. 

torches,  they  escorted  the  party  to  a  lodge  assigned  for  their  use,  pay- 
ing Smith  especial  attention,  and  seeking  from  him  some  expression 
of  admiration. 

When  Powhatan  arrived  the  next  day,  Smith  informed  him  of  the 
presents  which  awaited  him  at  Jamestown,  and  invited  him  thither  to 
receive  them.  He  also  promised  Newport's  aid  to  revenge  himself  upon 
his  enemies  the  Monacans,  who  inhabited  the  country  at  the  north-west, 
•where  Newport  was  to  seek  his  passage  to  the  South  Sea.  Powhatan 
probably  suspected  some  treachery,  for  he  replied  haughtily  that  he 
would  not  go  to  Jamestown,  but  would  wait  eight  days  for  the  presents 
to  be  brought  to  him,  and  that  he  was  able  to  fight  his  battles  with  the 
Monacans  without  help.  As  for  the  salt  water  beyond  the  mountains  of 
which  Smith  spoke  as  the  object  of  Newport's  proposed  expedition  into 
the  country  of  the  Monacans,  he  declared  there  was  no  such  water,  but 
land  everywhere.  Smith  returned  to  Jamestown,  and  the  presents  were 
sent  by  water,  on  a  circuitous  route,  while  he  with  Newport  and  fifty 
men  proceeded  by  land  to  the  Indian  town. 

Having  reached  the  appointed  place,  and  the  presents  having  arrived, 
the  next  day  was  appointed  for  the  coronation  and  presentation  of 
gifts,  with  befitting  ceremonies.  The  presents  consisted  of  a  bed  and 
furniture,  a  basin  and  ewer,  and  clothing.  These  were  delivered  to  the 
chief  in  due  form,  and  then  a  scarlet  suit  and  cloak  were  brought  out, 
and  with  some  difficulty  substituted  for  the  fur  mantle  more  familiar  to 
his  limbs.  Having  dressed  him  in  a  civilized  fashion,  not  without  some 
objections  and  fears  on  his  part,  the  next  step  was  to  make  him  kneel 
to  receive  the  crown.  This  was  a  still  more  difficult  task.  The  haughty 
savage  was  not  accustomed  to  kneel,  and  was  not  disposed  to  try  the 
unusual  posture  in  the  presence  of  his  followers  and  women.  But  at 
last,  after  urgent  persuasions  and  hard  pressing  on  his  shoulders,  he  was 
made  to  bend  a  little,  when  three  Englishmen  solemnly  placed  the 
crown  upon  his  head.  The  ceremony  being  accomplished,  a  volley  of 
musketry  was  discharged  from  the  boats,  greatly  to  the  alarm  of  the 
Indians.  They  were  soon  pacified,  however,  and  Powhatan,  not  to  be 
outdone  in  generosity  and  condescension,  bestowed  upon  Newport  his 
old  mantle  and  moccasons.  With  these  valuable  gifts,  and  some  corn, 
which  they  purchased  with  a  few  beads  and  trinkets,  the  English  returned 
to  Jamestown. 


I32  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

Contrary  to  the  advice  of  Smith,  who  had  no  faith  in  the  discovery  of 
any  passage  to  the  Pacific,  or  any  gold,  Newport  soon  after  set  out  on  the 
expedition  which  he  was  required  to  undertake  into  the  country  of  the 
Monacans,  on  the  banks  of  the  upper  portion  of  James  River.  Taking 
a  force  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  comprising  nearly  all  the  able- 
bodied  men  of  the  colony,  he  left  Smith  with  the  sick  and  feeble  to 
take  care  of  Jamestown.  This  force  proceeded  up  the  river  as  far  as 
the  falls  in  boats,  and  then  marched  some  forty  miles  farther,  finding  a 
pleasant  and  picturesque  country  and  one  or  two  Indian  towns,  but 
neither  any  prospect  of  a  passage  to  the  South  Sea  nor  any  signs  of  gold. 
The  Indians  were  afraid  of  so  formidable  a  party  of  strangers  armed 
with  thunderbolts,  and  they  made  no  attack.  But  they  manifested  no 
desire  to  propitiate  the  visitors,  and  would  not  furnish  any  corn.  His 
provisions  getting  short,  and  many  of  his  men  being  exhausted  by  their 
unusual  toil,  Newport  was  obliged  to  return,  and  his  party  reached 
Jamestown  worn  down  with  fatigue,  sick,  and  utterly  disappointed. 

Jealousy  of  Smith  was  always  slumbering  in  the  hearts  of  some  of 
the  colonists,  ready  to  break  out  in  acts  of  insubordination  upon  any 
pretext.  Disappointed  at  the  result  of  his  expedition,  and  perhaps  dis- 
contented with  himself,  Newport,  consorting  with  Ratcliffe,  attempted 
to  depose  Smith  from  the  presidency  of  the  council,  but  the  latter,  by  his 
watchfulness  and  tact,  foiled  their  schemes.  He  soon  had  occasion  to 
exercise  his  authority  against  Newport,  who  suffered  his  sailors,  together 
with  some  of  the  settlers,  to  carry  on  an  illicit  trade  with  the  Indians, 
by  which  the  colony  suffered  a  serious  loss  of  supplies,  and  the  Indians 
obtained  many  useful  articles  at  so  cheap  a  rate  that  they  would  not 
furnish  corn  except  for  much  more  valuable  presents  than  previously. 
This  was  so  serious  a  matter  that  Smith  threatened  to  send  away  the 
vessel  and  compel  Newport  to  remain  a  year  in  the  colony,  that  he  might 
learn  by  experience  the  difficulties  with  which  the  settlers  had  to  con- 
tend. This  threat  had  the  desired  effect,  and  Newport,  acknowledging 
the  folly  of  such  a  traffic,  prohibited  it. 

Among  the  emigrants  brought  out  on  the  last  voyage  were  a  number 
of  Dutchmen,  who  had  been  sent  by  the  corporation  to  make  glass, 
tar,  and  soap  ashes.  These  Smith  set  at  work,  together  with  some  of 
the  other  colonists,  that  the  ship  might  carry  back  some  return  for  the 


SMITH'S   VIEWS   Of  THE   COLONY. 

expenses  of  the  voyage.  Always  ready  to  encourage  the  men  to  labor 
by  example,  and  to  share  their  toil  and  hardship,  he  went  with  thirty  of 
them  some  miles  below  the  fort  to  fell  trees  and  saw  plank.  In  this 
party  were  two  or  three  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  recently  arrived. 
They  were  unused  to  labor,  but  encouraged  or  shamed  by  Smith's  exam- 
ple, they  engaged  in  the  work  with  spirit,  and  were  rather  pleased  with 
the  novelty  of  the  occupation.  When,  however,  their  delicate  hands 
were  blistered  by  the  axe  helves,  they  grew  profane,  and  the  woods 
resounded  with  their  oaths,  as  well  as  with  the  blows  of  the  axes.  The 
president,  who  was  never  guilty  of  profanity,  took  a  novel  way  of  pun- 
ishing the  offenders  and  curing  the  evil.  He  took  measures  to  have  the 
oaths  of  each  one  numbered,  and  in  the  evening  for  each  oath  he  poured 
a  can  of  water  down  the  offender's  sleeve.  The  oaths  had  been  so 
numerous  that  the  punishment  was  anything  but  a  joke,  and  it  proved 
so  effectual  that  scarce  an  oath  was  heard  for  a  week,  however  many 
were  indulged  in  mentally. 

Loading  the  ship  with  such  glass,  tar,  pitch,  and  soap  ashes  as  the 
settlers  had  been  able  to  prepare  in  a  few  weeks,  Newport  at  last  sailed 
for  England,  and  with  him  Ratcliffe  was  sent  back  as  a  troublesome  and 
odious  person,  and  "  lest  the  company  should  cut  his  throat."  Smith 
also  sent  a  letter  to  the  managers  in  London,  in  which  he  expressed 
himself  quite  freely  as  to  the  policy  which  was  pursued  with  regard  to 
the  colony.  In  reply  to  the  threat  that  if  the  cost  of  the  last  voyage  was 
not  repaid  by  the  colony  they  should  be  abandoned,  he  showed  in  caustic 
terms  the  utter  folly  of  expecting  an  immediate  profit  from  Virginia. 
He  pointed  out  the  unsuitable  character  of  most  of  the  emigrants  for 
settling  in  this  new  country,  where  labor  was  so  essential.  "  When  you 
send  again,"  he  wrote,  "  I  entreat  you  rather  send  but  thirty  carpenters, 
husbandmen,  gardeners,  fishermen,  blacksmiths,  masons,  and  diggers  up 
of  trees'  roots,  well  provided,  than  a  thousand  of  such  as  we  have." 

It  was  still  necessary  to  obtain  food  from  the  Indians,  and  Smith 
made  several  excursions  to  explore  the  country  and  traffic  for  corn. 
The  Indians,  actuated  by  fear  rather  than  good  will,  remained  quiet,  and 
were  not  unwilling  to  barter  their  corn  for  copper  and  toys.  Powhatan, 
having  assumed  English  clothes,  aspired  to  own  a  better  dwelling  than 
the  bark  lodge  which  he  occupied,  and  to  increase  his  possessions,  and 


134  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

he  accordingly  sent  a  request  to  Smith  that  he  would  send  men  to  build 
him  a  house,  and  would  give  him  a  grindstone,  fifty  swords,  a  pair  of 
domestic  fowls,  and  much  copper,  and  many  beads.  In  return,  he  prom- 
ised to  load  the  boats  with  corn.  The  wily  chief  had  learned  to  be 
cautious  in  his  traffic,  and  not  to  deliver  his  goods  till  he  received  his 
pay  for  them.  He  had  on  a  previous  occasion  presented  Newport  with 
twenty  turkeys,  for  which  he  had  demanded  and  received  an  equal  num- 
ber of  swords,  and  being  greatly  pleased  with  these  weapons,  he  coveted 
more,  and  subsequently  sent  twenty  turkeys  to  Smith,  with  a  proposal 
for  a  similar  exchange.  But  Smith  did  not  consider  it  wise  to  put  such 
arms  into  the  hands  of  the  savages,  and  refused  to  send  the  swords. 
The  disappointed  chief  then  told  his  followers  to  steal  the  desired  weap- 
ons, and  the  attempt  being  made,  some  of  the  savages  were  severely 
punished  by  Smith.  Still  anxious  to  possess  more  swords  and  guns, 
Powhatan  now  made  this  new  proposition  for  a  trade,  being  determined 
not  to  deliver  the  corn  till  he  received  the  price.  Smith  sent  a  party 
of  Englishmen  and  two  Dutchmen  by  land  to  build  the  house,  and  then 
embarked,  in  the  latter  part  of  December,  in  three  barges,  with  nearly 
fifty  men,  to  visit  the  chief,  carrying  articles  for  barter,  but  not  the 
coveted  arms.  Being  detained  on  the  way  by  stormy  weather,  the  party 
stopped  at  an  Indian  town  called  Kecoughtan,  where,  going  ashore,  they 
spent  the  holidays  among  the  friendly  natives,  feasting  on  oysters,  ven- 
ison, and  wild  fowl,  as  sumptuously  as  they  would  have  fared  in  Old 
England,  and  enjoying  sports  which,  if  not  like  those  of  Christmas  time 
in  their  own  country,  made  the  time  pass  merrily.  The  waters  were  filled 
•with  wild  fowl,  and  the  English  guns  afforded  sport  alike  to  the  col- 
onists and  the  Indians  who  shared  the  game  thus  provided.  The  num- 
bers of  fowl,  among  which  probably  there  was  an  abundance  of  canvas- 
back  ducks,  may  be  imagined  when  it  is  reported  that  Smith  and  two 
others  killed  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  in  three  shots. 

Reaching  at  last  the  residence  of  Powhatan,  Smith  and  some  of  his 
companions  landed  and  took  up  their  quarters  in  one  of  the  lodges, 
where  the  old  chief,  having  sent  a  liberal  supply  of  food,  came  and  had 
a  conference  with  them.  Powhatan  declared  that  he  was  very  old,  and 
had  seen  the  death  of  all  his  people  thrice,  that  he  must  soon  die,  and 
he  desired  that  his  people  might  live  at  peace  with  the  English.  He 


POCAHONTAS   WARNS  SMITH  OF  DANGER. 


135 


wanted  his  visitors  to  lay  aside  their  arms,  and  was  so  urgent  in  this 
that  Smith  with  good  reason  suspected  he  contemplated  some  act  of 
treachery,  for  which  his  talk  about  his  strong  desire  for  peace  was  only 
a  cover.  To  anticipate  any  such  movement  Smith  privately  sent  orders 
to  his  men  in  the  boats  to  come  cautiously  and  capture  him.  The  wily 
chief,  however,  seeing  the  armed  men  approaching,  fled  with  his  women 
and  children,  while  the  warriors  surrounded  the  cabin,  threatening  Smith 
and  his  companions  with  an  assault.  The  brave  Englishman,  however, 
had  faced  greater  danger,  and  seizing  his  arms,  rushed  out  and  dis- 
charged his  pistol  at  them  so  boldly  and  suddenly  that  some  were 
wounded  and  tumbled  one  over  another,  and  the  others  fled  in  dismay. 
Powhatan,  finding  that  his  scheme  had  failed,  and  that  he  was  no 
match  for  the  English  with  their  fire-arms,  sent  an  aged  Indian  with  a 
string  of  wampum  to  Smith,  in  token  of  amity,  together  with  a  liberal  sup- 
ply of  corn.  This  was,  probably,  intended  to  lull  Smith's  suspicion  rather 
than  as  a  sincere  token  of  friendship,  for  the  chieftain  soon  after  plot- 
ted with  the  Dutchmen  who  had  been  sent  to  build  him  a  house,  and 
who  were  greatly  pleased  with  the  good  cheer  and  free  life  they  en- 
joyed, to  accomplish  Smith's  destruction.  The  Dutchmen,  in  common 
with  many  others  of  the  colonists,  hated  and  feared  Smith,  whose  en- 
ergetic administration  of  affairs  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  despotism, 
and  the  Indian  knew  well  that  he  was  the  master  spirit  of  the  English, 
whose  bravery  and  watchfulness  awed  the  natives  and  preserved  the  col- 
ony from  starvation  and  destruction.  It  was  therefore  no  very  unnat- 
ural alliance  which  these  worthless  whites  and  the  savage  chief  entered 
into.  But  the  plot  failed  through  the  firm  friendship  and  bravery  of 
Pocahontas.  Learning  what  treachery  was  contemplated,  this  young  girl 
stole  cautiously  through  the  woods  at  night,  and  coming  to  the  cabin 
where  Smith  lodged,  told  him  that  her  father  would  soon  send  him  a 
bountiful  supply  of  game,  in  order  that  he  and  his  men  might  have  a 
great  feast,  but  that  the  Indians  would  come  in  great  numbers,  and  kill 
him  and  all  the  English  with  their  own  weapons  while  they  were  en- 
joying the  repast.  She  begged  him,  therefore,  with  an  earnestness  which 
attested  her  love,  to  leave  at  once.  Smith  would  have  rewarded  her 
brave  friendship  with  gifts,  but  she  declined  to  receive  them,  saying 
that  if  they  were  seen,  and  her  visit  should  be  discovered,  her  father 


136  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

would  kill  her.  Urging  him  to  depart  without  delay,  she  ran  away 
again  to  her  distant  cabin.  Smith  did  not  comply  with  the  prayer  of 
Pocahontas,  and  hasten  away  from  the  danger,  but  being  thus  fore- 
warned, he  was  prepared  for  any  treachery.  Soon  after  Pocahontas  had 
gone,  eight  stout  warriors  arrived  from  Powhatan's  residence,  bringing 
professions  of  friendship  and  platters  of  venison  for  Smith  and  his  com- 
panions. They  desired  that  the  matches  for  the  guns,  which  had  been 
lighted  when  the  Indian  girl's  story  was  told,  should  be  extinguished; 
but  Smith  declined  to  accede  to  the  insidious  request,  and  fearing  poi- 
son, made  the  savages  taste  of  the  food  on  each  of  the  platters  they  had 
brought.  He  then  bade  them  return  to  their  chief  and  tell  him  that  he 
was  ready  to  receive  him.  The  treacherous  plot  of  the  savage  was  thus 
foiled  through  the  friendly  service  of  his  daughter. 

Leaving  the  Dutchmen  to  finish  Powhatan's  house,  and  a  young  Eng- 
lishman, named  Boynton,  to  shoot  wild  fowl  for  him,  Smith,  with  the 
rest  of  his  men,  proceeded  farther  up  the  river  to  procure  an  additional 
supply  of  corn  from  the  chief  Opechancanough,  a  brother  of  Powhatan. 
The  treachery  of  the  Dutchmen  was  not  then  suspected,  but  the  English 
had  hardly  departed  before  they  entered  into  a  new  plot  with  Powhatan. 
While  one  of  them  remained  with  the  Indians,  and  made  stone  toma- 
hawks, which  he  could  do  much  more  easily  with  his  tools  than  the 
natives  with  their  rude  implements,  the  other,  with  a  party  of  Indians, 
went  to  Jamestown.  By  false  pretences  and  the  assistance  of  some  of 
the  colonists  who  were  equally  ready  to  become  traitors,  these  renegades 
procured  a  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition,  which  the  natives  carried 
back  to  Powhatan.  Boynton,  ascertaining  what  was  going  on,  attempted 
to  stealthily  make  his  way  to  Jamestown  with  the  information;  but  his 
movements  were  watched  with  suspicion,  and  he  was  soon  captured  and 
taken  back,  expecting  from  the  threats  of  the  savages  that  he  would  be 
put  to  death.  He  was  spared  such  a  fate,  however,  but  did  not  dare  to 
repeat  the  attempt. 

Meanwhile  Smith,  having  reached  the  place  where  Opechancanough 
dwelt,  landed  with  a  number  of  his  men  and  proceeded  to  the  chief's 
lodge,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more  back  from  the  river.  They  found 
the  village  deserted,  a  lame  man  and  a  boy  being  the  only  inhabitants 
left.  Though  the  cabins  were  stripped  of  the  few  household  goods  per- 


INDIAN  TREACHERT. 


137 


taining  to  the  domestic  life  of  the  savages,  it  was  not  an  abandonment 
of  their  homes,  for  even  on  short  journeys  and  hunting  expeditions  they 
carried  their  effects  with  them.  They  had  heard  of  the  coming  of  the 
English,  and  had  retired  to  avoid  the  delivery  of  corn  which  had  been 
previously  promised,  and  they  were,  like  the  more  immediate  followers 
of  Powhatan,  inclined  to  hostilities  whenever,  according  to  Indian  tac- 
tics, they  could'  take  the  English  at  disadvantage.  Opechancanough,  how- 
ever, was  not  far  off,  and  he  soon  appeared  with  some  of  his  warriors 
armed  with  their  usual  warlike  weapons.  A  conference  was  held,  and 
Smith  reproached  the  chief  for  not  bringing  corn  according  to  prom- 
ise, and  for  his  inhospitable  and  unfriendly  action.  The  Indian  replied 
that  he  had  but  a  scanty  supply,  but  would  bring  what  he  could  on  the 
morrow. 

The  next  day  Smith  with  his  party  went  again  to  the  lodge,  where 
they  found  four  or  five  Indians,  who  had  brought  each  a  large  basket. 
Opechancanough  soon  came  in,  and  with  an  appearance  of  honest  regret 
told  Smith  with  what  trouble  he  had  been  able  to  collect  this  corn  and 
thus  keep  his  promise.  While  still  speaking,  one  of  the  English  an- 
nounced that  the  lodge  was  surrounded  by  a  large  number  of  Indians. 
Some  of  the  party  were  dismayed  at  this  announcement,  but  Smith, 
who  never  knew  fear,  appealed  to  them  to  show  some  courage,  and  to 
fight  like  men,  and  not  die  like  sheep.  He  then  upbraided  Opechan- 
canough for  his  treachery  and  murderous  purposes,  and  challenged  him 
to  single  combat  on  a  neighboring  island,  where  they  could  fight  it  out 
without  interference.  This  did  not  suit  the  chief's  idea  of  fighting,  and 
he  tried  to  lure  Smith  into  an  ambuscade  —  a  more  approved  style  of 
warfare  among  the  Indians.  But  the  watchful  Englishman,  divining  his 
purpose,  suddenly  seized  him  by  the  hair,  and  pointing  a  pistol  at  his 
breast,  led  him  trembling  before  his  astonished  followers.  The  terrified 
chief  gave-  up  his  weapons,  and  the  other  Indians  immediately  threw 
down  theirs  in  dismay.  Hostilities  being  thus  suspended,  it  was  not  long 
before  men,  women,  and  children  brought  various  commodities  to  trade 
with  the  English,  and  friendly  relations  seemed  to  be  entirely  restored. 
The  Indian  propensity  for  treachery  and  surprise,  however,  was  still  in- 
dulged, and  when  at  last  the  Englishmen  retired  to  one  of  the  cabins 
for  rest,  a  party  of  warriors  armed  with  tomahawks  and  swords  stealth- 

NO.  iv.  18 


138  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

ily  approached,  intending  to  despatch  them  while  asleep,  and  liberate 
their  chief,  who  was  still  in  custody.  Fortunately  they  were  discovered 
in  time,  and  Smith  and  his  comrades,  starting  up,  soon  put  the  natives 
to  flight  by  the  terrors  of  their  fire-arms. 

While  the  English  tarried  at  this  place,  a  messenger  from  James- 
town, who  had  come  safely  through  the  wilderness,  protected  by  Poca- 
hontas,  brought  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Scrivener,  Waldo,  and  other 
prominent  men  of  the  colony,  who  had  been  lost  while  on  an  expedi- 
tion down  the  river  in  a  boat.  This  determined  Smith  to  return  to  the 
settlement,  making  such  further  collection  of  corn  as  he  could  on  the  way. 
As  he  passed  the  territory  of  Powhatan,  the  Indians  appeared  in  consider- 
able numbers  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  unarmed,  and  carrying  baskets  of 
corn.  There  was  a  mutual  attempt  on  the  part  of  Powhatan  and  Smith 
to  inveigle  each  other  into  an  ambuscade,  but  neither  succeeded;  and 
Powhatan,  as  if  despairing  of  destroying  so  superior  an  invader,  caused 
a  large  quantity  of  corn  to  be  delivered  to  the  English,  and  then  aban- 
doned his  new  house,  and  carried  away  all  the  remainder  of  his  pro- 
visions, as  Smith  shortly  afterwards  discovered  upon  returning  from  an 
excursion  up  the  Pamunkey  and  again  visiting  what  had  been  the  chief's 
favorite  residence. 

Smith  now  returned  to  Jamestown,  having  purchased  with  a  few 
pounds  of  iron  and  copper,  and  some  beads,  nearly  five  hundred  bush- 
els of  corn.  And  there  was  need  of  this  supply  in  the  colony,  for  the 
provision  in  the  public  store  had  been  greatly  damaged  by  exposure  to 
the  rain,  or  devoured  by  rats  and  worms.  The  affairs  of  the  colony 
were  again  in  a  bad  way,  as  was  always  the  case  when  Smith  was  ab- 
sent. The  settlers  had  been  living  in  idleness,  and  had  bartered  away 
arms  and  implements  to  the  Indians  for  trifling  supplies  of  game  or 
corn,  thus  impoverishing  themselves,  and  putting  into  the  hands  of  the 
savages  weapons  for  their  own  destruction.  Smith  at  once  applied  him- 
self to  enforce  discipline  and  order.  He  now  was  virtually  supreme, 
there  being  but  one  other  surviving  councillor,  and  the  president  hav- 
ing two  votes.  He  insisted  that  every  man  should  perform  labor  during 
a  certain  number  of  hours,  and  established  a  rule  that  "  he  who  would 
not  work  should  not  eat."  While  requiring  work,  he  wisely  provided 
recreation,  and  thus  made  his  administration  more  tolerable  to  the  indo- 


OV    •fViA.-'     ,***S^  ^    N»tfMu£Al 


CAPTAIN     SMITH     AND     THE    CHIEF    OF     PASPAHEGH. 


SMITH  AND   THE   CHIEF  OF  PASPAHEGH. 

lent  settlers,  who  nevertheless  regarded  with  little  favor  the  man  whose 
foresight,  energy,  and  bravery  were  the  salvation  of  the  colony. 

His  bravery  and  strength  were  fully  illustrated  at  this  time  in  a  ren- 
contre with  a  chief  of  a  neighboring  tribe,  or  clan,  whom  he  met  near 
Jamestown.  This  savage,  who  was  of  great  .stature,  attempted  to  shoot 
Smith,  but  the  latter  closed  with  him  so  quickly  that  he  could  not  use 
his  weapons.  Then  followed  a  fierce  struggle,  in  which  the  savage,  by 
superior  strength,  forced  his  antagonist  into  the  river,  and  attempted  to 
drown  him.  But  by  desperate  exertion  Smith  at  last  grasped  the  In- 
dian by  the  throat,  and,  drawing  his  sword,  would  have  killed  him,  had 
he  not  uttered  piteous  cries,  which  induced  the  victor  to  spare  his  life; 
and  he  led  him  a  prisoner  into  Jamestown,  and  put  him  in  chains. 
The  wives  and  followers  of  the  captive  chief  came  with  presents  to 
ransom  him;  but  he  was  held  as  a  hostage  for  the  good  behavior  of 
his  tribe.  At  last,  however,  he  made  his  escape,  and  though  quickly 
pursued  by  a  party  of  fifty  men,  he  was  not  captured.  Fearing  the  con- 
sequences of  his  return  to  his  tribe,  Smith  determined  to  go  out  and 
"  try  conclusions  "  with  the  savages,  without  waiting  for  them  to  attempt 
a  surprise.  He  accordingly  made  war  on  this  tribe,  and  killing  some, 
taking  others  prisoners,  burning  their  cabins,  and  carrying  away  their 
canoes,  he  so  terrified  them  that  they  sued  for  peace,  and  so  long  as  he 
remained  at  Jamestown  made  no  further  hostile  demonstrations. 

Smith's  bravery  inspired  the  natives  with  superstitious  reverence. 
They  regarded  the  other  settlers  with  little  respect  or  fear  unless  he  was 
with  them,  but  they  feared  Smith  as  a  superior  being.  An  incident  of  a 
different  kind  confirmed  their  regard  for  him.  A  young  Indian  had  been 
captured  for  stealing  a  pistol,  and  was  detained  in  a  guard-room  until  some 
of  his  comrades  should  return  the  stolen  article.  The  weather  was  cold, 
and  to  contribute  to  the  captive's  comfort,  some  charcoal  was  sent  to 
him  with  his  food.  The  fumes  of  the  charcoal  in  the  small  room  in 
which  he  was  confined  soon  deprived  the  unfortunate  prisoner  of  con- 
sciousness, and  when  a  companion  who  had  brought  back  the  pistol  was 
admitted  to  him  he  was  found  stretched  upon  the  ground,  apparently 
lifeless.  The  Indians  who  were  present,  upon  seeing  their  comrade  in 
this  condition,  set  up  a  grievous  lamentation,  believing  he  had  been 
killed.  Smith  soon  appeared,  and  immediately  applied  brandy  and  vin- 


140  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

egar,  and  with  other  remedies  he  succeeded  in  restoring  the  patient. 
This  performance  added  to  Smith's  reputation  among  the  savages;  they 
looked  upon  him  as  having  supernatural  powers,  and  they  were  ready 
to  worship  him  as  a  god  who  could  restore  the  dead  to  life. 

The  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  who  manifested  a 
friendly  disposition,  had  led  to  such  a  barter  of  the  property,  not  only 
of  individuals  but  of  the  colony,  that  Smith  now  prohibited  it,  and  con- 
structed a  block-house  at  the  neck  of  the  peninsula,  and  garrisoned  it 
with  soldiers,  who  alone  were  authorized  to  trade  with  the  Indians. 
The  colonists  were  not  allowed  to  pass  out  beyond  the  block-house,  nor 
the  Indians  to  come  in,  except  by  permission  of  the  president.  Twenty 
houses  were  also  built  in  the  settlement,  and  a  block-house  at  Hog 
Island,  where  the  swine  were  kept.  As  spring  came  thirty  or  forty  acres 
of  larid  were  planted  with  corn.  Smith  also  partially  constructed  a  small 
stone  fort  on  a  high  bluff  overlooking  a  creek  that  flows  into  James 
River,  which  was  intended  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  case  of  being  com- 
pelled to  retreat  from  Jamestown.  The  want  of  provisions  prevented 
the  'completion  of  this  work,  and  proved  a  serious  interruption  to  all 
work  of  improvement.  The  majority  of  the  settlers  were  too  indolent 
to  work  if  they  could  avoid  it,  and  those  who  would  work  were,  from 
the  first,  chiefly  occupied  in  obtaining  food,  not  only  for  themselves 
but  the  drones.  Smith's  new  rules  had  secured  a  little  more  industry, 
but  the  provisions  had  been  so  wasted  by  rats  and  damaged  by  rains, 
that  he  was  at  last  obliged  to  abandon  all  work,  that  the  whole  company 
might  procure  food,  each  for  himself.  Even  then,  of  such  worthless 
material  was  a  large  part  of  the  colony  composed,  that  they  would  rather 
starve  than  take  the  trouble  of  procuring  food,  except  as  a  pastime. 
They  murmured  and  became  mutinous  in  the  manifestations  of  their 
discontent,  so  that  Smith  arrested  the  ringleader,  and  ordered  that 
whoever  failed  to  provide  daily  as  much  food  as  he  should  consume 
should  be  banished  from  Jamestown  as  a  drone.  For  some  time  the 
Indians  supplied  the  colony  daily  with  squirrels,  turkeys,  and  deer, 
and  corn  was  again  bought  from  Powhatan;  but  at  last  it  became 
necessary  to  distribute  the  settlers  in  different  parts  of  the  adjacent 
country,  and  compel  them  to  procure  their  own  subsistence.  One  party 
was  sent  down  the  river  to  live  on  oysters,  another  to  fish  at  Point  Com- 


A   NEW  PLAN  FOR   THE   COLONT. 

fort,  and  still  another  up  the  James  River  in  search  of  whatever  they 
might  find  in  the  woods,  while  not  a  few  were  billeted  among  the 
Indians,  where  they  led  an  indolent  and  vagrant  life,  which  was  prob- 
ably not  distasteful  to  many  of  them. 

Meanwhile  the  Virginia  Company  in  England,  disappointed  in  their 
extravagant  expectations  of  deriving  immediate  profit  from  -the  settle- 
ment at  Jamestown  by  the  discovery  of  gold  or  a  passage  to  the  South 
Sea,  determined  to  take  a  new  departure.  They  added  to  the  number 
of  their  stockholders,  and  obtained  a  new  charter  from  the  king  repealing 
the  old  charter,  and  conferring  ampler  powers  and  privileges  and  a 
more  extensive  grant  of  territory.  This  charter  provided  for  a  govern- 
ment vested  in  a  governor  and  captain-general,  whose  authority  was 
nearly  absolute,  as  he  was  granted  arbitrary  power,  and  authorized  to 
declare  martial  law.  Thomas,  Lord  Delaware,  was  appointed  to  this 
office,  Sir  Thomas  Gates  was  appointed  lieutenant-governor,  and  Sir 
George  Somers  admiral.  Certain  leading  men  were  also  appointed 
councillors,  though  with  little  authority.  Under  this  government  the 
colony  was  to  be  reorganized  and  much  increased  in  numbers.  Nine 
vessels  were  fitted  out  to  carry  five  hundred  emigrants,  some  of  whom 
were  women,  and  an  ample  supply  of  provisions  and  other  stores. 
Newport,  who  had  already  made  several  voyages  to  Virginia,  was  placed 
in  command  of  this  fleet,  and  Gates  and  Somers  were  to  go  with  it, 
while  Lord  Delaware  was  to  embark  at  a  later  period.  Newport,  Gates, 
and  Somers  were  each  authorized,  whichever  arrived  first  at  Jamestown, 
to  supersede  the  existing  authorities,  and  take  command  until  the  arrival 
of  Lord  Delaware;  but  being  unable  to  settle  the  point  of  precedence 
among  themselves,  they  embarked  in  the  same  vessel,  the  Sea  Venture. 

The  fleet  sailed  from  Plymouth  in  May,  1609,  and  when  within  about 
eight  days'  sail  of  Virginia,  it  encountered  a  hurricane  which  dismasted 
some  of  the  ships  and  crippled  all.  One  small  vessel  was  lost,  and  the 
Sea  Venture,  carrying  the  three  leading  men  and  a  hundred  and  fifty 
emigrants,  was  separated  from  the  rest.  The  other  vessels,  shattered  by 
the  storm,  and  having  lost  many  of  the  passengers  by  sickness,  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  supplies,  arrived  in  James  River  in  August.  When 
this  fleet  approached,  Smith  thought  they  were  Spaniards,  coming  with 
hostile  intent,  and  he  prepared  to  resist  them,  the  Indians  offering  to 


!42  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

assist  him.  He  soon  discovered,  however,  that  they  were  English  ships, 
bringing  a  re-enforcement  of  his  countrymen  for  the  colony.  It  would 
have  been  better,  perhaps,  had  the  fleet  been  a  hostile  one,  for  it  brought 
the  seeds  of  anarchy  and  ruin  to  a  colony  already  in  a  state  of  mutiny. 
Captain  Samuel  Argall,  who  afterwards  figured  conspicuously  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  who  waged  war  upon  the  French  settlements  in  Acadia,  as 
related  in  a  preceding  page,  had  already  arrived,  and  brought  intelligence 
of  the  repeal  of  the  charter  under  which  the  colony  was  established. 
This  news  had  the  effect  of  stirring  up  the  evil  elements  in  the  settle- 
ment to  insubordination  and  defiance  of  Smith's  authority.  Among  the 
new  arrivals  came  RatclifFe,  Archer,  and  Martin,  who  had  been  sent  to 
England  on  account  of  their  mutinous  conduct,  and  of  the  three  hundred 
settlers  who  came  with  them  the  greater  part  were  "  profligate  youths, 
sent  from  home  to  escape  ill  destinies,"  reckless  adventurers,  bankrupt 
traders,  "  decayed  tapsters,  and  ostlers  trade-fallen,  the  cankers  of  a  calm 
world  and  long  peace." 

The  arrival  of  this  evil  company  gave  rise  to  new  confusion  and  dis- 
order. RatclifFe  and  other  self-constituted  leaders,  though  they  brought 
no  commission  with  them,  insisted  on  abrogating  the  old  charter,  and 
denying  the  authority  of  Smith,  insolently  undertook  to  usurp  the  gov- 
ernment. Disagreeing  among  themselves,  and  acting  by  no  authority, 
they  would  one  day  claim  that  the  new  charter  was  in  force,  and  another 
that  the  old  one  still  governed,  and  by  their  continual  change  they 
encouraged  the  spirit  of  lawlessness,  and  involved  the  colony  in  com- 
plete anarchy. 

Disgusted  with  the  folly  and  factiousness  of  these  assuming  lead- 
ers, who  succeeded  only  in  plunging  the  colony  into  anarchy,  Smith 
would  gladly  have  returned  to  England,  leaving  the  settlers  to  whatever 
fate  they  might  bring  upon  themselves.  But  as  yet  the  old  charter  was 
not  legally  abrogated,  and  the  commission  for  the  establishment  of  a 
new  government  was  in  the  hands  of  Gates,  whose  arrival  was  uncertain, 
and  who,  indeed,  was  supposed  to  have  been  lost  at  sea.  To  permit 
these  insolent  and  troublesome  leaders  to  usurp  the  authority  which  was 
still  vested  in  him  did  not  comport  with  his  ideas  of  duty,  and  would 
surely  and  speedily  ruin  the  colony.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  assert 
his  rights  as  president,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  plots  of  the  mischief- 


MUTINOUS  SETTLERS. 

makers  by  arresting  Ratcliffe,  Archer,  and  others  who  were  the  ring- 
leaders. This  he  was  able  to  do  the  more  readily  as  the  soldiers  were 
attached  to  him  as  a  gallant  leader,  and  at  his  command  would  not  have 
hesitated  to  kill  any  who  opposed  him;  and  afterwards,  when  these  men 
again  rebelled  against  him,  while  he  was  in  a  helpless  condition,  the 
soldiers  begged  for  permission  "  to  strike  off  their  heads." 

When  Smith's  term  as  president  expired  (the  position  being  held 
for  one  year  only)  he  was  succeeded  by  Martin,  who,  conscious  of  his 
incompetency,  transferred  all  his  powers  to  Smith.  Having  secured 
some  degree  of  order  at  Jamestown,  Smith  went  up  the  river  to  look 
after  the  colonists  who  had  been  sent  thither  under  West.  He  found 
them  established  on  low  ground,  liable  to  be  inundated  by  a  rise  of  the 
river,  and  "  surrounded  by  many  intolerable  inconveniences,"  a  site 
selected  with  less  judgment  even  than  Jamestown.  He  proposed  that 
they  should  take  possession  of  Powhatan's  village,  a  short  distance  fur- 
ther down  the  river,  which  consisted  of  a  number  of  cabins,  affording 
comfortable  shelter,  and  was  well  protected  from  Indian  attacks  by  pal- 
isades, while  near  by  the  Indian  fields  of  nearly  two  hundred  acres  were 
ready  for  cultivation.  A  messenger  was  despatched  to  Powhatan  pro- 
posing a  purchase,  but  whether  a  bargain  was  effected  does  not  appear. 
The  settlers,  however,  obstinately  refused  to  remove  to  this  more  eligible 
situation,  and  became  so  mutinous  and  abusive  that  Smith  landed  and 
arrested  the  principal  offenders;  but  having  only  five  men  with  him,  the 
prisoners  were  rescued,  and  he  was  compelled  to  retire  to  his  pinnace. 
Here  he  remained  some  days,  the  Indians  supplying  him  with  food,  for 
which  kind  office  the  mutinous  settlers  retaliated  on  them  by  plundering 
their  cornfields,  damaging  their  cabins,  beating  them,  and  even  taking 
some  of  them  prisoners.  This  of  course  aroused  the  spirit  of  revenge  in 
the  savages,  and  as  soon  as  Smith  set  sail  they  made  an  attack  on  their 
persecutors,  many  of  whom  were  killed. 

Smith's  vessel  had  proceeded  but  a  mile  or  two  down  the  river  when 
she  ran  aground,  and  the  mutineers,  now  seized  with  a  panic,  came  and 
agreed  to  submit  to  his  orders.  The  most  troublesome  men  were  again 
arrested,  and  the  others  went  and  established  themselves  in  Powhatan's 
abandoned  village,  —  a  place  well  adapted  for  a  permanent  settlement, 
and  which  was  named  Nonsuch,  as  being  "  the  strongest  and  most 


I44  JAMESTOWN  AND   CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

delightful  place  in  the  country."  West,  however,  who  had  chosen  the 
other  insalubrious  place,  would  not  admit  the  superiority  of  this,  and 
the  settlers,  under  his  influence,  soon  returned  to  their  first  choice. 
Finding  all  further  effort  vain,  Smith  returned  down  the  river  in  his 
boat,  leaving  the  perverse  settlers  to  their  own  devices.  This  was  vir- 
tually the  end  of  Smith's  career  in  Virginia,  for  on  the  voyage  down 
the  river  he  was  terribly  wounded  while  asleep  by  the  explosion  of 
some  gunpowder,  which  injured  his  eyes  and  burned  his  face,  so  that 
in  his  agony  he  plunged  into  the  river,  and  was  nearly  drowned  before 
his  companions  could  rescue  him. 

Returning  to  Jamestown,  maimed  and  suffering,  he  again  encoun- 
tered the  factious  and  mutinous  crew  who  had  previously  defied  his 
authority  and  caused  contention  and  anarchy,  and  one  of  his  most  bitter 
enemies,  with  cowardly  insolence,  presented  a  cocked  pistol  at  him  as 
he  lay  almost  blind  in  his  bed;  but  fortunately  the  fellow  had  not  the 
courage  or  the  brutality  to  fire.  Called  upon  to  surrender  the  pres- 
idency to  Percy,  Smith  refused  to  do  so;  and  it  would  have  been  of 
little  avail,  for  Percy  was  in  too  feeble  health  to  control  a  colony  com- 
posed of  such  discordant  materials,  and  already  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 
Retaining  the  presidency  nominally,  he  was  unable,  through  his  unfor- 
tunate condition,  to  exercise  its  powers,  and  at  last,  when  a  ship  was 
ready  to  sail,  he  embarked  for  England,  having  been  in  Virginia  a  little 
more  than  two  years. 

During  those  two  eventful  years  he  had  been  the  saviour  of  the 
colony,  which  would  have  perished  from  the  earth  but  for  his  capacity, 
foresight,  and  energy,  as  surely  as  had  those  earlier  ones  sent  out  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Having  to  deal  with  an  exacting  and  greedy  cor- 
poration in  England,  and  a  company  of  selfish  adventurers  and  worth- 
less idlers  in  Virginia,  his  merits  were  recognized  by  neither.  He  was 
himself  an  adventurer,  of  a  higher  order,  indeed,  than  any  who  came 
with  him;  he  had  been  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  did  not  possess  the 
rank  which  might  have  secured  to  him  more  respect  and  .higher  hon- 
ors; but  no  one  whom  the  company  had  been  able  to  enlist  in  their 
service  possessed  equal  qualifications  for  the  difficult  task  of  founding  a 
colony  in  the  new  world.  Restless  and  eager  for  adventure,  he  was 
accused  of  wandering  too  much,  but  he  engaged  in  no  expedition  which 


SMITH'S  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

did  not  produce  advantageous  results.  He  repeatedly  obtained  by  these 
expeditions  the  food  which  preserved  the  colonists  from  starvation,  and  by 
his  daring  energy  saved  them  from  massacre,  while  his  explorations  were 
of  great  and  permanent  value  to  those  who  came  after  him.  He  was, 
moreover,  a  brave  and  chivalrous  gentleman,  who  demanded  from  his 
followers  no  exposure  to  hardship  and  danger,  and  no  service  which  he 
was  not  willing  to  share.  His  loss  to  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  was 
the  commencement  of  many  woes. 

Smith  never  returned  to  Virginia.  For  four  or  five  years  he  remained 
in  retirement,  and  in  1614  made  his  first  visit  to  New  England,  on  the 
coast  of  which  he  made  some  explorations.  The  next  year  he  embarked 
on  a  second  voyage  to  the  same  shores,  but  was  captured  by  a  French 
squadron  and  carried  to  France,  where  he  was  accused  of  Argall's  pirat- 
ical exploit,  the  destruction  of  the  French  settlement  at  Port  Royal. 
At  length,  at  much  risk,  he  effected  his  escape,  and  returned  to  England. 
He  afterwards  devoted  himself  to  writing  several  works  on  Virginia  and 
New  England,  and  an  account  of  his  own  life  and  exploits.  The  Plym- 
outh Company  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  Admiral  of  New  England, 
but  it  was  to  him  only  an  empty  title.  For  all  his  services  in  the  cause 
of  colonization,  which  were  invaluable;  for  his  discoveries,  labors,  and 
sacrifices,  he  received  no  recompense.  In  neither  Virginia  nor  New 
England  did  he  have  "one  foot  of  land,  not  even  the  house  that  he  built, 
nor  the  ground  that  he  cultivated  with  his  own  hands,  nor  even  any 
content  or  satisfaction  at  all,  while  he  beheld  those  countries  bestowed 
upon  men  who  neither  could  have  them,  nor  even  know  of  them,  but 
by  his  descriptions."  He  died  in  London  in  1631,  and  was  buried  in 
St.  Sepulchre's  Church.  Famous  for  his  remarkable  exploits  in  his  own 
day,  it  was  left  for  subsequent  generations  to  appreciate  the  true  value 
of  his  services  and  character. 

NO.  iv.  19 


XV. 


VICISSITUDES   AT    JAMESTOWN. 


peninsula. 


Smith  left  Jamestown  the  colony  numbered  about 
five  hundred,  one  hundred  of  whom  were  soldiers,  who 
were  now  somewhat  acquainted  with  the  country  and  its 
savage  inhabitants,  a  few  were  women,  but  the  rest,  un- 
fortunately, were  mostly  broken-down  gentlemen,  servants, 
worthless  adventurers,  and  profligates.  The  settlement 
consisted  of  about  fifty  houses,  of  various  degrees  of  com- 
fort, and  was  fortified  with  palisades  at  the  neck  of  the 
For  its  defence  and  that  of  two  or  three  other  small  forts 
there  were  twenty  cannon,  three  hundred  arquebuses  or  muskets,  with 
a  good  supply  of  ammunition,  and  swords  and  pikes  sufficient  to  arm 
most  of  those  who  could  not  have  guns.  The  colony  had  also  several 
horses,  goats,  and  sheep,  and  five  or  six  hundred  swine,  while  in  the 
river  there  were  two  or  three  vessels  in  which  there  were  further  sup- 
plies of  provisions.  It  would  seem  that  a  colony  of  such  numbers,  so 
fairly  supplied,  and  in  a  country  capable  of  supporting  all  who  might 
settle  in  it,  would  be  able  to  maintain  itself  either  against  the  hostility 
of  poorly-armed  savages,  or  against  want  and  starvation.  But  unfortu- 
nately it  had  within  itself  the  seeds  of  ruin  —  incompetency  in  manage- 
ment, and  a  factious,  mutinous  crew  of  malcontents. 

Smith's  departure  was  the  signal  for  the  Indians  to  commence  attacks 
upon  the  settlers.  They  feared  and  respected  him  on  account  of  his 
bravery  and  lofty  bearing,  but  no  one  else  had  impressed  them  with 
either  fear  or  friendship.  Percy  at  first  administered  the  government 

146 


SAD   CONDITION  OF  THE   COLONY. 

as  president  under  the  old  charter,  but,  feeble  in  health,  he  was  unable 
to  contend  with  the  factious  and  ambitious  spirits  around  him,  and  they 
soon  gained  control  of  affairs.  The  supply  of  corn  running  low,  West 
and  Ratclirfe  embarked  with  thirty  men  to  procure  more.  Neither  of 
these  leaders  was  acquainted  with  the  habits  and  characteristics  of  the 
Indians,  and  were  in  no  respect  capable  of  contending  with  the  peculiar 
warfare  of  the  savages.  Led  into  an  ambuscade  by  Powhatan,  who  had  in 
vain  attempted  that  game  with  Smith,  Ratcliffe  and  his  companions  were 
slain,  two  only  escaping,  one  of  whom,  a  boy,  was  rescued  by  the  still 
friendly  Pocahontas,  and  was  adopted  into  one  of  the  tribes,  and  in  after 
years  rendered  good  service  to  the  colonists  as  an  interpreter. 

Constant  hostilities  after  the  Indian  fashion  followed;  whoever  was 
caught  away  from  the  settlement  was  shot  with  arrows  or  brained  with 
the  tomahawk;  whatever  the  Indians  could  lay  their  hands  on  was 
carried  off.  There  was  no  one  capable  of  organizing  resistance  and 
inflicting  punishment,  or  of  enforcing  any  sort  of  discipline  among  the 
settlers  which  would  secure  their  safety.  While  some  of  the  natives 
indulged  in  these  hostile  acts,  others  traded  with  the  colonists  with 
little  or  no  restraint.  They  came  into  the  settlement  and  helped  devour 
the  stores,  while  the  shiftless  idlers  bartered  swords,  guns,  and  ammu- 
nition for  small  quantities  of  food.  There  seems  to  have  been  no 
attempt  to  obtain  any  common  store  of  food,  and,  with  the  country  filled 
with  hostile  Indians,  none  could  well  be  made  except  by  such  a  bold 
and  skilful  leader  as  Smith.  Nor  was  any  earnest  effort  made  to  punish 
and  overawe  the  savage  tribes. 

O 

The  public  stores  were  at  last  exhausted,  and  want  together  with 
malaria  brought  on  a  fatal  sickness,  which  rapidly  reduced  the  numbers 
of  the  settlers.  They  were  indeed  in  a  starving  condition,  and  that 
unhappy  period  was  long  afterwards  known  as  "the  starving  time." 
They  subsisted  on  roots,  herbs,  acorns,  and  nuts,  and  were  glad  to  devour 
dogs,  cats,  rats,  snakes,  and  the  skins  of  horses  after  the  flesh  had  been 
consumed.  They  resorted  even  to  cannibalism;  the  body  of  an  Indian 
was  disinterred  and  eaten,  and  even  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades 
were  said  to  have  furnished  them  food.  One  man  murdered  his  wife; 
and  such  was  the  terrible  state  of  affairs  that  he  pleaded  cannibalism  to 
escape  starvation  as  a  palliation  of  the  crime.  The  colonists,  however, 


I48  VICISSITUDES  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

spite  of  their  experience  of  the  fiercest  cravings  of  hunger,  did  not 
admit  the  plea,  which  was  in  fact  a  pretence,  and  the  murderer  was  put 
to  death  by  being  burned  at  the  stake. 

All  their  miseries  the  unhappy  settlers  charged  upon  the  neglect  of 
the  London  Company,  rather  than,  in  any  degree,  upon  their  own  want 
of  industry,  thrift,  and  foresight.  They  bitterly  denounced  the  treasurer 
of  the  company,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  for  failing  to  send  out  adequate  sup- 
plies j  and  when  on  one  occasion  the  carcass  of  a  mare  which  the  Indians 
had  killed  was  being  cooked,  they  devoutly  wished  "  that  Sir  Thomas 
was  upon  her  back  in  the  kettle." 

While  the  colony  at  Jamestown  thus  suffered  from  the  savages, 
internal  discord,  and  starvation,  the  Sea  Venture,  in  which  Newport, 
Gates,  and  Somers,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  emigrants,  had  embarked, 
was  a  wreck  on  a  reef  of  the  Bermudas.  Racked  by  the  storm  which 
had  separated  her  from  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  she  sprang  a  leak,  and  the 
water  rose  in  her  hold  above  two  tiers  of  hogsheads,  so  that  the  crew 
and  passengers  were  obliged  to  stand  up  to  their  waists  in  water  baling 
out  with  buckets  and  kettles.  For  three  days  and  nights  they  continued 
at  this  work  without  diminishing  the  depth  of  water,  and  at  length, 
utterly  exhausted,  they  indulged  freely  in  wine,  and  resigned  themselves 
to  their  fate.  Sir  George  Somers,  though  advanced  in  years,  had  bravely 
and  faithfully  maintained  his  position  on  the  quarter-deck,  endeavoring 
by  his  skill  to  keep  the  ship  upright,  and  to  steer  her  on  a  course  which 
might  bring  them  to  a  haven.  Still  watching  when  the  others  had  given 
up  in  despair,  he  at  last  descried  land.  The  people,  who  had  sunk  in 
sleep,  exhausted  or  stupefied  by  drink,  were  aroused  by  his  cry  of  "Land," 
as  if  it  were  "a  voice  from  heaven,"  and  hurried  on  deck,  scarcely  cred- 
iting the  announcement.  Land  was  indeed  within  sight,  and  hope  again 
succeeded  to  despair.  All  sail  was  spread  that  the  distant  shore  might 
be  reached,  but  soon  the  ship  struck  upon  a  reef,  and  then  was  lifted  by 
the  surges  from  rock  to  rock,  till  at  last  she  was  lodged  in  an  upright 
position  firmly  upon  the  ledge.  They  were  still  far  from  the  shore,  but 
they  had  escaped  the  destruction  with  which  each  succeeding  billow 
threatened  them  as  it  thumped  the  ship  upon  the  rocks.  A  calm  suc- 
ceeded, and  taking  to  the  boats,  the  entire  company  of  upwards  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  was  landed  safely  on  the  shore,  nearly  a  league  distant. 


WRECKED   ON  THE   SUMMER  ISLES. 

Great  was  their  joy  as  they  stepped  upon  the  land,  though  it  was 
an  island  hitherto  avoided  by  all  navigators,  and  was  regarded  by  the 
superstitious  sailors  of  that  time  as  the  desolate  abode  of  demons.  They 
had  additional  cause  for  thanksgiving  when  they  found,  instead  of  the 
desolation  and  terrors  with  which  the  place  was  invested  by  the  wild 
stories  of  Spanish  navigators,  a  delightful  climate,  luxuriant  vegetation, 
and  an  abundance  of  game  and  fruits  to  supply  them  with  food.  They 
soon  constructed  slight  houses  or  cabins  thatched  "with  palmetto  leaves, 
which  afforded  them  all  the  shelter  they  required  in  so  agreeable  a 
climate,  and  they  found 'little  difficulty  in  procuring  sufficient  food.  So 
pleasant  was  the  change  from  the  stormy  sea,  which  had  threatened 
them  with  destruction,  to  this  land  of  beauty  and  plenty,  that  many  of 
the  company  desired  to  remain  there,  and  were  unwilling  even  to  con- 
template a  further  tempting  of  the  perils  of  the  sea  to  reach  the  less 
happy  shores  of  Virginia.  The  leaders,  however,  did  not  share  in  these 
feelings,  and  devoted  their  energies  to  discover  some  means  of  reaching 
their  destination,  or  of  sending  intelligence  of  their  safety,  and  obtaining 
succor.  The  ship  had  yielded  to  the  force  of  the  waves,  and  gone  to 
pieces.  Portions  of  the  wreck  were  strewn  upon  the  shore,  and  were 
carefully  preserved.  The  trees  of  Spanish  cedar  afforded  timber  that 
\vas  easily  wrought.  Using  the  wreck  as  far  as  it  would  answer  the 
purpose,  and  supplying  its  deficiencies  with  the  cedar,  they  undertook 
to  construct  vessels  which  should  carry  them  away  from  this  pleasant 
island.  First  they  constructed  a  deck  over  the  long-boat,  and  despatched 
one  of  the  mates  of  the  ship,  with  eight  men  in  it,  to  obtain  succor  in 
Virginia.  But  this  boat  was  never  heard  of  again,  and  the  succor  hoped 
for  by  some,  and  dreaded  by  others,  was  awaited  in  vain. 

As  time  passed,  and  all  hope  of  hearing  from  these  messengers 
vanished,  Gates  completed  the  construction  of  another  vessel  of  about 
eighty  tons.  It  was  built  from  such  timbers  of  the  lost  ship  as  could 
be  used,  together  with  cedar,  wrought  with  much  difficulty  with  their 
insufficient  tools.  Another  smaller  vessel  was  also  built  of  cedar,  with 
fastenings  of  wood,  there  being  no  iron  to  be  had.  These  vessels  were 
rigged  with  such  ropes  and  spars  as  had  been  saved  from  the  wreck, 
and  when  completed  were  duly  named  the  "  Patience "  and  "  Deliver- 
ance." With  such  supplies  as  the  island  afforded,  the  whole  company 


I,50  VICISSITUDES  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

at  length  embarked  on  the  loth  of  May,  1610,  after  having  been  on  the 
island  about  nine  months.  During  that  time  two  children  were  born, 
one  of  whom,  a  daughter  of  John  Rolfe,  who  afterwards  married  Poca- 
hontas,  was  christened  by  the  name  of  Bermuda;  the  other  child,  a  boy, 
was  christened  by  the  name  of  Bermudas.  Six  persons,  including  the 
wife  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  had  died.  Some  of  the  company  were  loath 
to  leave  a  place  where  life  was  so  pleasant  and  easy;  but  at  last,  being 
reconciled  to  the  duty  of  finishing  the  voyage  on  which  they  had  origi- 
nally embarked,  all  again  ventured  in  the  two  frail  barks  "upon  the  sea 
which  had  proved  so  disastrous  to  them. 

Fortunately  the  weather  was  good,  and  encountering  no  storm,  which 
would  probably  have  caused  the  vessels  to  founder,  in  about  two  weeks 
they  arrived  in  James  River.  Landing  at  Jamestown,  they  found  only 
sixty  miserable  colonists  surviving  out  of  the  five  hundred  whom  Smith 
left  there  but  six  months  before.  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, landed  on  the  24th  of  May;  and,  the  church-bell  being  rung,  the 
surviving  settlers  and  the  new-comers  were  assembled,  and  after  a 
solemn  prayer  by  the  chaplain  who  accompanied  the  new  expedition, 
the  commission  of  Gates  was  read,  and  Percy,  the  president  under  the 
former  charter,  feeble  and  scarcely  able  to  stand,  surrendered  his  author- 
ity. There  were  no  rejoicings  at  the  accession  of  the  new  government; 
the  sick  and  half-starved  settlers,  though  relieved  at  the  prospect  of 
supplies,  were  too  miserable  to  make  any  demonstrations  of  joy,  and 
the  new-comers  were  too  much  shocked  at  the  sad  condition  in  which 
the  colony  was  found. 

Jamestown  was  indeed  in  a  fearful  state;  the  palisades  of  the  fort 
were  torn  down,  the  ports  open,  and  the  gates  wrested  from  their  hinges; 
many  of  the  houses  had  been  demolished  and  burned  for  fire-wood;  the 
storehouse  was  empty;  the  burial-place  was  full  of  graves,  and  the 
survivors  moved  about  feebly  among  the  ruins  of  the  settlement.  It  is 
surprising  how  rapidly  the  colonists  had  perished  and  the  settlement 
gone  to  ruin;  but  under  the  utter  incompetency  with  which  affairs  had 
been  administered,  and  the  anarchy  which  had  prevailed,  little  else 
than  destruction  could  be  looked  for.  A  sad  prospect  was  before  the 
new  governor;  and,  indeed,  the  future  looked  as  hopeless  for  the  newly 
arrived  as  was  the  present  for  the  old  settlers.  Under  these  circum- 


ARRIVAL    OF  LORD  DELAWARE. 

stances  Gates  reluctantly  determined  to  abandon  the  settlement,  and  to 
sail  for  Newfoundland,  where  he  might  receive  succor  from  English 
fishing  vessels,  and  be  enabled  to  return  to  England.  Preparations  were 
at  once  made  to  carry  out  this  purpose.  The  cannon  and  ordnance 
stores  were  buried  near  the  gate  of  the  fort,  the  houses  stripped  of  what- 
ever it  was  worth  while  to  carry  away,  and  the  flames  would  quickly 
have  destroyed  the  houses  themselves  had  not  Gates,  with  a  few  gen- 
tlemen, restrained  the  people  from  setting  them  on  fire.  A  parting 
volley  was  fired,  and  then  all  embarked  in  four  pinnaces,  the  governor 
remaining  on  shore  till  the  last  to  prevent  any  wanton  destruction. 
Without  regret  the  settlers  left  the  spot  where  they  had  suffered  so 
much  of  misery,  and  as  the  vessels  dropped  down  the  river,  rejoiced 
in  the  hope  that  they  would  never  again  ascend  it. 

Near  the  mouth  of  the  James  they  anchored  for  the  night,  intend- 
ing the  next  morning  to  set  sail  for  Newfoundland.  When  morning 
came  they  descried  a  boat  approaching,  which  proved  to  be  one  sent 
by  Lord  Delaware,  with  despatches  announcing  that  he  had  arrived  off 
the  mouth  of  the  river  with  three  ships,  after  a  tedious  voyage  of  three 
months.  Though  this  intelligence  was  a  disappointment  to  some  who 
had  hoped  to  escape  from  the  wilderness  and  return  to  England,  it 
was  to  most  a  great  relief  from  the  uncertainty  which  attended  the  per- 
ilous voyage  they  were  about  to  undertake.  Ample  supplies  were  at 
hand,  and  new  settlers  to  share  their  dangers  and  toils.  Gates  and  his 
company  accordingly  returned  up  the  river,  and  again  took  possession 
of  the  deserted  settlement.  The  next  day  Lord  Delaware's  ships  arrived, 
and  on  the  following  day  he  landed  with  his  retinue  and  settlers,  and 
was  received  with  such  honors  as  they  could  offer  by  Gates  and  his 
entire  company.  Lord  Delaware,  who  was  a  pious  and  exemplary  gen- 
tleman, fell  on  his  knees  and  remained  some  time  bowed  in  silent 
prayer.  All  then  repaired  to  the  dilapidated  church,  where  services 
were  performed,  and  an  appropriate  discourse  was  delivered  by  the 
chaplain  who  had  accompanied  Gates.  The  new  governor  addressed 
the  people,  and  the  colony  was  re-established  under  the  new  charter. 

Narrow  indeed  had  been  the  escape  of  the  colony  from  utter  ruin. 
The  arrival  of  Gates  had  saved  the  surviving  settlers  from  starvation 
and  probable  massacre.  His  prudence  had  prevented  the  wanton  de- 


I52  VICISSITUDES  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

struction  of  the  fort  and  dwellings.  A  few  hours'  delay  before  sailing 
away  for  Newfoundland  had  brought  in  Lord  Delaware's  ships  before 
it  was  too  late  to  intercept  the  departing  colonists. 

Lord  Delaware,  as  governor  and  captain-general  of  Virginia,  —  a 
title  which  was  always  thereafter  given  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
colony, — was  accompanied  by  a  somewhat  imposing  suite.  Besides  the 
three  high  officers  who  had  previously  arrived, —  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  the 
lieutenant-governor,  Sir  George  Somers,  admiral,  and  Captain  Newport, 
vice-admiral,  —  there  came  with  the  governor  Sir  Ferdinand  Wayman, 
master  of  ordnance,  Captain  Holcroft,  Captain  Lawson,  and  other  gen- 
tlemen who  held  some  sinecure  posts  of  honor.  The  council  under  the 
new  charter  consisted  of  the  principal  officers  above  named,  and  Mr. 
Strachey  was  the  secretary  or  recorder. 

The  new  governor  was  a  man  of  energy  and  discretion,  and  he  at 
once  began  the  work  of  restoring  the  settlement.  Discipline  and  in- 
dustry were  enforced  as  the  first  requisites,  and  hours  of  labor  were 
prescribed  which  were  no  very  severe  tax  upon  the  strength  of  the 
colonists,  being  from  six  o'clock  to  ten  in  the  morning,  and  from  two 
to  four  in  the  afternoon.  The  forts  were  first  repaired,  and  the  cannon 
disinterred  and  remounted;  houses  which  had  been  torn  down  were 
rebuilt;  a  better  church  was  constructed  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  and 
was  by  far  the  best  building  in  the  settlement.  It  was  sixty  feet  long 
and  twenty-four  feet  wide,  with  a  chancel  of  cedar,  a  communion-table 
of  walnut,  pews  of  cedar,  and  wide  windows  with  cedar  shutters,  "  as 
also  a  pulpit  with  a  font  hewed  out  hollow  like  a  canoe,"  and  at  one 
end  were  hung  two  bells.  "  The  building  was  so  constructed  as  to  be 
very  light  within,  and  the  lord  governor  and  captain-general  caused  it 
to  be  kept  passing  sweet  and  trimmed  up  with  divers  flowers."  Under 
the  new  administration,  religious  exercises  were  more  carefully  observed 
than  they  had  previously  been,  and  daily,  at  ten  o'clock,  when  the 
morning  labor  was  done,  and  again  at  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  the 
day's  work  was  finished,  the  people  were  summoned  by  the  bells  to 
attend  prayers.  On  Sunday  the  full  service  of  the  church  was  per- 
formed, and  two  sermons  were  preached,  and  on  Thursday  another  ser- 
mon was  added  to  the  daily  service.  All  these  exercises  were  attended 
by  most  of  the  people,  though  without  that  strict  observance  of  the  duty 


IMPROVED   CONDITION  OF  THE   COLONT.  153 

which  characterized  the  Puritan  settlers  of  New  England.  The  gov- 
ernor went  to  church  in  state  on  Sunday,  being  "  accompanied  by  the 
councillors,  officers,  and  all  the  gentlemen,  with  a  guard  of  halberdiers 
in  his  lordship's  livery,  handsome  red  cloaks,  to  the  number  of  fifty  on 
each  side  and  behind  him."  In  the  church  he  had  his  seat  in  the  choir, 
in  a  grreen  velvet  chair,  with  a  velvet  cushion  before  him  on  which  he 

O  ' 

knelt,  and  on  either  side  sat  the  council  and  officers.  After  the  services 
he  returned  to  his  house,  escorted  in  the  same  manner.  This  display 
suited  the  taste  of  most  of  the  settlers  perhaps  better  than  the  more 
simple  habits  of  Captain  Smith,  but  in  this  small  settlement  on  the  verge 
of  the  wilderness  it  was  a  most  absurd  transplanting  of  the  pomp  of 
courts.  But,  notwithstanding  his  splendid  retinue  and  show  of  state, 
Lord  Delaware  was  an  energetic  and  able  governor  during  the  short 
period  he  remained  in  Virginia,  and  was  a  good  friend  of  the  colony. 

The  leading  men  who  held  positions  under  the  new  charter  did  not 
long  remain  in  the  colony.  Sir  Ferdinand  Wayman,  master  of  ord- 
nance, died  without  being  distinguished  for  anything  more  than  his  title 
and  office.  Sir  George  Somers  sailed  in  his  cedar  vessel  for  the  Ber- 
mudas, accompanied  by  Captain  Argall  in  another  vessel,  to  procure 
supplies.  Argall  was  forced  by  adverse  winds  to  put  back,  and  returned 
to  Jamestown;  but  Somers,  in  his  frailer  bark,  succeeded  in  reaching 
his  destination,  where  he  soon  after  died.  For  a  time  the  Bermudas 
were  called  the  Somers  Islands,  which  was  soon  corrupted  into  Sum- 
mer Isles,  a  name  not  inappropriate  to  their  pleasant  climate.  Sir 
Thomas  Gates,  whose  wife  had  died  during  their  long  detention  at  Ber- 
muda, and  whose  daughters  had  been  sent  back  to  England,  returned 
there  himself  to  report  the  condition  of"  the  colony,  and  the  events 
which  had  transpired.  Lord  Delaware,  after  placing  Jamestown  in  a 
good  condition  for  defence  and  comfort,  procuring  corn  from  the  In- 
dians, and  constructing  two  forts  on  the  shores  of  the  bay,  where  emi- 
grants might  first  land,  also  took  his  departure.  He  had  suffered  much 
from  sickness,  and,  being  in  a  feeble  condition,  embarked  with  Captain 
Argall  and  about  fifty  others  for  England,  by  way  of  the  West  Indies. 
Adverse  winds  drove  them  to  the  north,  and  they  were  driven  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  which  thence  received  the  name  of  Delaware. 

The  higher    officers    having    gone,  Lord    Delaware    left    the    colony 

NO.    IV.  20 


VICISSITUDES  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

again  in  charge  of  Captain  Percy,  a  member  of  the  council,  but  whose 
feeble  health  disqualified  him  for  an  energetic  administration  of  affairs. 
Fortunately,  however,  the  condition  of  the  colony  did  not  demand 
extraordinary  prudence  and  capacity.  The  colonists  numbered  about 
two  hundred,  and  were  not  disturbed  by  the  factious  leaders  who  had 
previously  produced  disorder  and  anarchy;  the  supply  of  provisions 
was  sufficient  to  last  ten  months,  and  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians 
were  peaceable,  if  not  altogether  friendly.  Matters  in  the  settlement, 
therefore,  went  on  without  serious  disturbance  from  within  or  without 
until  the  following  year,  though  the  settlers  relapsed  into  their  old  habits 
of  idleness. 

When  the  council  of  the  Virginia  Company  in  England  heard  the 
accounts  of  the  disasters  which  had  fallen  upon  the  colony,  they  were 
greatly  discouraged.  The  prospect  of  profit  was  as  distant  as  ever,  and 
they  seriously  contemplated  abandoning  the  enterprise  and  recalling  the 
colonists.  But  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  who  arrived  in  England  before  a 
decision  had  been  reached,  strenuously  opposed  such  a  step,  and  made 
such  representations  that  the  company  was  again  encouraged,  and  new 
measures  were  adopted  to  strengthen  the  colony.  All  the  high  officers 
with  various  titles  having  left  the  colony,  a  new  title  was  created,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Dale  was  appointed  high  marshal  of  Virginia,  and  endowed 
with  almost  supreme  authority.  With  three  vessels  well  laden  with 
supplies,  including  cattle  and  swine,  Dale  sailed  for  Virginia,  where  he 
arrived  in  May,  1611.  He  was  a  military,  man  who  had  served  in  the 
Low  Countries,  and  being  intrusted  with  extraordinary  military  powers, 
as  indicated  by  his  title,  he  carried  with  him  a  code  of  military  laws, 
some  of  which  were  barbarous  and  inhuman. 

When  Dale  arrived  at  Jamestown,  he  found  the  settlers  busily  en- 
gaged in  their  "  usual  occupation,  playing  at  bowls  in  the  streets."  This 
did  not  accord  with  his  notions  of  useful  employment;  and,  making 
known  his  authority  and  promulgating  some  of  his  laws,  he  established 
military  discipline,  and  set  the  men  at  work  planting  corn,  felling  trees, 
and  providing  material  for  enclosing  a  new  town,  which  he  proposed  to 
build  as  soon  as  he  could  find  a  suitable  site.  There  were  too  many 
indolent  persons  in  the  colony  to  submit  cheerfully  to  the  strict  disci- 
pline of  Dale's  administration,  and  discontent  and  murmurs  were  fol- 


A   NEW  TOWN  FOUNDED. 

lowed  by  open  insubordination  and  disturbance.  The  high  marshal 
accordingly  exercised  his  authority,  and  enforced  martial  law  with 
extreme  rigor.  Eight  colonists  were  summarily  tried  by  court  martial 
for  treasonable  conspiracy,  and,  being  found  guilty,  were  executed  in  a 
cruel  manner.  These  rigorous  measures  secured  order,  and  probably 
nothing  short  of  extreme  severity  would  have  succeeded.  Though 
Dale  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  and  administered  an  arbitrary  code  of 
laws,  he  was  not  vindictive,  but  was  disposed  only  to  be  just,  and  the 
colonists  were  fortunate  in  having  so  fair-minded  a  despot. 

Dale's  administration,  however,  did  not  continue  long,  for  Sir  Thomas 
Gates,  who  had  labored  earnestly  in  England  for  the  good  of  the  colony, 
arrived  in  August  of  the  same  year,  with  six  vessels,  bringing  three  hun- 
dred more  colonists,  and  abundant  supplies.  Gates  was  commissioned 
anew  to  take  charge  of  the  colony,  and  Dale  not  unwillingly  took  a 
subordinate  position,  in  which  he  was  permitted  to  carry  out  his  cher- 
ished purpose  of  founding  a  new  settlement.  The  site  selected  for 
this -new  town  was  a  peninsula  about  twelve  miles  below  the  falls  of 
the  James,  formed  by  a  bend  in  the  river,  which,  after  making  a  circuit 
of  about  seven  miles,  returns  within  one  hundred  and  twenty  yards  of 
the  starting-point.  An  artificial  channel  or  cut-off  across  this  narrow 
neck  of  the  peninsula  has  since  been  famous  under  the  name  of  "  Dutch 
Gap."  With  three  hundred  men,  Dale  established  himself  at  this  favor- 
able point  and  founded  a  town,  which  was  named  Henrico,  in  honor 
of  the  king's  eldest  son,  Prince  Henry.  Across  the  neck  of  the  penin- 
sula, from  water  to  water,  a  strong  palisade  and  breastwork  was  con- 
structed for  defence,  and  within  this  three  streets  were  laid  out,  on 
which  were  built  some  well-framed  houses,  a  good  church,  storehouses, 
and  other  buildings.  On  the  river  banks  were  five  houses,  in  which 
lived  "  the  honester  sort  of  people,"  and  kept  watch,  for  the  town's  secu- 
rity. Back  from  the  town  another  palisade  was  erected,  nearly  two 
miles  in  length  from  bank  to  bank  of  the  bend,  enclosing  the  fields  for 
cultivation. 

While  Dale  was  still  at  work  upon  his  new  settlement,  the  Appo- 
mattox  Indians  committed  some  depredations,  for  which  he  led  a  force 
against  them,  and  captured  their  town  near  the  mouth  of  the  Appomattox 
River,  and  about  five  miles  from  Henrico.  Pleased  with  the  situation,  he 


VICISSITUDES  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

established  another  plantation  there,  and  called  it  Bermudas,- — a  name 
still  preserved  in  the  more  recent  one  of  Bermuda  Hundred.  Dale  had 
a  penchant  for  laying  out  new  settlements,  and  he  selected  the  sites  of 
several  others,  which  were  subsequently  occupied,  and  under  his  favorite 
code  of  martial  law  each  was  subjected  to  the  control  of  a  captain. 
These  settlements  were  all  enclosed  by  palisades,  some  of  them  of  great 
extent,  and  houses  were  erected  within  the  enclosure.  Dale  thus  accom- 
plished much  more  than  had  previously  been  done  for  the  settlement 
of  the  country.  Meanwhile  Jamestown  also  improved.  Two  rows  of 
frame  houses  and  three  large  storehouses  were  built,  and  on  the  fertile 
peninsula  there  were  cultivated  fields  and  gardens,  showing  a  more  pros- 
perous condition  of  affairs  than  had  hitherto  existed.  Forty  miles  below 
Jamestown,  at  Kiquotan,  another  plantation  was  established,  where  the 
settlers  planted  some  small  fields  of  corn,  and  enjoyed  an  abundance 
of  fish  and  wild  fowl. 

The  system  of  cultivating  common  fields  and  being  provided  for  out 
of  the  public  store,  though  unavoidable  at  first,  had  the  effect  to  par- 
alyze industry  and  retard  the  growth  of  the  colony.  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
wisely  introduced  a  different  system  by  allotting  to  each  man  three  acres 
of  cleared  land  to  be  cultivated  for  his  own  benefit,  and  from  which 
he  was  required  to  contribute  to  the  public  store  only  two  and  a  half 
barrels  of  corn.  This  measure,  which  created  a  new  incentive  to  indus- 
try and  independence,  proved  highly  acceptable  to  the  settlers  and  ben- 
eficial to  the  colony.  Subsequently,  in  1615,  a  more  important  step  was 
taken  in  the  establishment  of  individual  property  in  the  soil,  the  charter 
company  granting  to  each  freeman  fifty  acres  of  land  in  absolute  right. 
This  measure  was  also  brought  about  through  the  influence  of  Sir 
Thomas  Dale,  who  proved  himself  a  wise  ruler  and  earnest  friend  of 
the  colony. 

During  Dale's  administration,  however,  Captain  Argall  achieved  some 
exploits  which  were  not  so  creditable,  though  characteristic  of  the  age. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Argall  captured  the  Jesuit  company  as  they 
were  about  making  a  settlement  near  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot,  and 
destroyed  the  settlement  at  Port  Royal,  an  account  of  which  has  been 
given  in  previous  pages.  One  account  states  that  this  expedition  of 
Argall  was  sent  out  by  Dale,  who  looked  upon  the  French  settlements 


SUCCESS  OF  DALE'S  EFFORTS. 


157 


as  an  encroachment  upon  the  territory  of  Virginia.  Another  declares 
that  Argall,  while  sailing  along  the  shores  of  Cape  Cod,  first  learned 
from  the  Indians  there  that  the  French  had  settlements  at  the  north; 
and  having  captured  the  party  on  the  island  of  Mount  Desert,  he  re- 
ceived information  about  the  settlement  at  Port  Royal  from  the  Jesuit 
Biard,  whose  hatred  of  Biencourt  prompted  the  treachery  towards  his 
countryman. 

Sir  Thomas  Dale,  after  a  stay  of  five  years  in  Virginia,  during  which 
he  had  done  much  for  the  permanent  establishment  and  welfare  of  the 
colony,  returned  to  England  in  the  spring  of  1616,  taking  with  him 
John  Rolfe  and  his  wife  Pocahontas,  with  several  other  Indians.  The 
condition  of  affairs  was  better  than  at  any  previous  period.  Health  pre- 
vailed; order  and  industry  had  taken  the  place  of  confusion  and  idleness; 
peace  had  been  secured  with  most  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  free  trade 
readily  obtained  from  them  what  commodities  they  had  to  spare.  Dale 
could  carry  home  with  him  a  good  account  of  his  stewardship. 


XVI. 

POCAHONTAS. 


O  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  association  of  Europeans 
with  the  Indian  race  have  awakened  so  tender  an  inter- 
est and  so  complete  admiration  as  the  story  of  Pocahon- 
tas.  The  daughter  of  the  chief  Powhatan,  who  was 
regarded  by  the  English  as  the  "king"  or  "emperor" 
of  the  neighboring  tribes,  she  was  called  a  princess,  and 
the  admiration  which  she  excited  in  Smith  and  the  first 
settlers  was  enhanced  by  that  title  and  the  position  which 
she  was  supposed  to  occupy  among  her  people.  The  same  sentiment 
has  come  down  through  succeeding  generations,  and  has  become  more 
deeply  tinged  with  romance  as  the  days  of  the  dusky  heroine  have 
receded  into  a  more  remote  past,  and  her  story  engages  the  attention 
chiefly  of  the  young,  whose  feelings  are  most  easily  touched  by  such  a 
recital,  and  whose  imaginations  clothe  her  with  surpassing  beauty  and 
virtues.  Let  not  the  stern  iconoclast  destroy  the  beautiful  image!  There 
is  enough  of  truth  in  the  romantic  story  to  preserve  it  for  all  time. 

When  first  introduced  to  the  knowledge  of  the  English  she  was 
said  to  be  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age;  but  as  she  was  always 
small  of  stature,  she  might  have  been  somewhat  older,  and  as  the  In- 
dian youth  were  more  precocious  than  the  whites,  she  was  perhaps  more 
mature  than  her  apparent  age  indicated.  More  comely  than  most  of  the 
Indian  girls,  the  romance  which  surrounds  her  has  made  her  beautiful. 
That  she  possessed  traits  unusual  in  savage  maidens  —  gentleness  and 
mercy  —  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  her  constancy  in  friendship  and 
love  was  abundantly  proved. 

158 


SHE   PLEADS  FOR   SMITH'S  LIFE. 

Captain  Smith,  after  being  captured,  was  carried  from  village  to  vil- 
lage, exciting  the  wonder  of  the  natives,  until  at  last  he  was  brought 
to  Werowocomoco,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  York,  the  favorite  res- 
idence of  the  great  chief  Powhatan.  Here,  in  his  spacious  lodge,  upon 
a  raised  platform  cushioned  with  furs,  the  chief  sat  in  state,  attended  by 
two  of  his  women.  Before  him,  in  the  centre  of  the  lodge,  burned  a 
generous  fire,  and  along  each  side  were  seated  his  warriors,  and  behind 
them  stood  a  crowd  of  women.  Into  the  midst  of  this  assembly  Smith 
was  brought,  and  seated  near  the  fire.  His  coming  was  greeted  with 
a  fearful  yell,  the  meaning  of  which  was  as  much  a  mystery  to  the 
captive  as  he  was  to  the  natives,  who  gazed  at  him  with  wonder  not 
unmixed  with  savage  fear  and  jealousy.  Among  those  who  looked  with 
deepest  curiosity  and  interest  on  the  bearded  stranger  were  the  favorite 
children  of  Powhatan,  his  daughter  Pocahontas  and  his  son  Nantaquaus, 
a  youth  a  little  older  than  the  girl,  whom  Smith  describes  as  "  the  man- 
liest, comeliest,  boldest  spirit  I  ever  saw  in  a  savage."  These  children, 
who  doubtless  enjoyed  privileges  not  permitted  to  those  of  less  degree, 
manifested  their  interest  by  a  close  examination  of  the  captive,  and  some 
little  savage  courtesies  which  he  thankfully  acknowledged. 

The  occasion  was  a  grand  council  which  was  to  determine  the  .fate 
of  the  prisoner,  and  the  deliberations  were  preceded,  as  usual,  by  a  feast, 
at  which  none  were  better  served  than  he  who  was  pretty  sure  to  be 
condemned  to  death.  The  feast  being  over,  the  matter  in  hand  was 
considered  in  the  usual  deliberate  manner  of  The  Indians.  Harangues, 
accompanied  sometimes  with  fierce  gestures,  were  made  and  listened  to 
with  ominous  grunts  of  satisfaction.  Pocahontas  and  Nantaquaus,  watch- 
ing the  speakers  with  the  closest  attention,  soon  found  that  the  wonder- 
ful stranger  was  doomed  to  death,  and  they  earnestly  entreated  their 
father  to  save  him.  That  appeal  was  in  vain,  for  the  jealousy  of  the 
haughty  sachem  was  aroused,  and  he  feared  the  coming  of  a  mightier  chief 
than  himself.  The  fate  of  the  prisoner  was  sealed,  and  preparations 
were  at  once  made  to  carry  the  sentence  into  execution.  But  when  the 
fatal  stones  were  brought  in,  and  Smith's  head  was  laid  upon  them,  and 
with  a  savage  delight  a  stalwart  Indian  was  preparing  to  deal  the  fatal 
blow  with  his  ponderous  club,  Pocahontas,  finding  her  entreaties  vain, 
forced  her  way  to  the  intended  victim,  and  throwing  herself  beside  him, 


!6o  POCAHONTAS. 

laid  her  head  upon  his,  declaring  by  her  act,  if  not  by  words,  that  they 
should  slay  her  first.  This  brave  act  of  the  chief's  daughter  produced 
a  mighty  effect  upon  the  savages.  The  arms  raised  to  strike  the  fatal 
blow  dropped  powerless,  and  a  murmur  of  amazement  ran  through  the 
assembly.  Such  an  appeal,  enforced  by  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  together 
with  the  mysterious  character  of  the  white  stranger,  impressed  the  super- 
stitious natives  with  awe.  Powhatan  saw  with  alarm  the  momentary 
danger  in  which  his  favorite  child  was  placed  by  her  devotion,  and 
declared  that  the  captive's  life  should  be  spared.  He  was  permitted  to 
rise,  and  was  assured  of  his  safety.  Such  was  the  change  wrought  in 
the  feelings  or  policy  of  the  natives  by  the  heroic  action  of  Pocahontas, 
that  they  not  only  spared  the  prisoner's  life,  but  determined  to  send  him 
back  to  Jamestown. 

During  the  brief  period  that  elapsed  before  he  set  out  on  his  return, 
it  may  well  be  imagined  that  Smith  expressed  his  grateful  admiration 
of  the  preserver  of  his  life  in  no  doubtful  manner,  spite  of  his  ignorance 
of  her  language.  Thus  he  made  a  still  deeper  impression  on  her  heart, 
and  thenceforth  she  was  devoted  to  him  with  a  love  and  reverence  that 
were  proof  against  the  influence  of  her  father,  and  a  barrier  to  his 
treachery.  When  he  departed,  he  felt  assured  that  he  had  one  friend, 
at  least,  among  the  savages. 

It  was  not  long  after  Smith's  return  to  Jamestown  before  Pocahontas, 
with  her  attendants,  visited  the  settlement,  bringing  corn  and  other  gifts 
as  a  token  of  her  friendship  and  the  good  will  of  her  father,  whom  she 
seems  to  have  influenced  in  favor  of  the  strangers.  These  visits  were 
frequently  repeated,  and  she  thus  brought  food,  which  saved  the  mis- 
erable settlers  from  absolute  want.  It  was  a  long  journey  for  the  young 
girl.  Crossing  the  River  York  in  canoes,  with  her  attendants  she  trav- 
elled on  foot  many  weary  miles  through  the  wilderness,  carrying  her 
burden  of  corn,  venison,  and  turkeys,  and  receiving  a  hearty  welcome 
from  Smith  and  his  comrades,  and  such  gifts  as  pleased  the  untutored 
taste  of  the  Indians. 

The  wild  performance  with  which  she  and  her  train  of  Indian  girls 
entertained  Smith  and  his  companions  while  they  awaited  the  arrival  of 
Powhatan,  has  been  described  in  a  preceding  page.  It  was  conceived 
and  carried  out  with  a  view  to  please  the  strangers,  and  when  the  mad 


POCAHONTAS  AND   SMITH.  I6i 

shrieks  of  the  entertainers  alarmed  the  guests,  who  were  unused  to  bar- 
barian plays,  Pocahontas  alone  reassured  them  by  her  earnest  declaration 
that  they  might  slay  her  if  any  surprise  was  intended.  Such  faith  had 
Smith  in  her  friendship,  that  her  simple  word  was  sufficient  to  allay  all 
fears  of  treachery.  And  well  might  he,  if  not  the  others,  have  confi- 
dence in  her  who,  at  the  risk  of  her  own  life,  had  saved  his.  A  little 
later,  it  was  again  at  the  risk  of  her  life  that  she  warned  him  of  a 
contemplated  attack  by  Powhatan's  followers  while  he  and  his  com- 
panions slept  in  an  Indian  cabin.  Secretly  leaving  her  father's  lodge, 
where  she  had  heard  the  plot  arranged,  with  a  fleet  foot  she  ran  through 
the  forest,  in  danger  of  being  discovered  by  the  watchful  savages  who 
were  preparing  for  the  attack.  Entering  the  cabin,  she  told  Smith  of 
the  contemplated  attack,  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes  besought  him  to 
fly  before  the  deadly  assault  should  be  made.  With  remarkable  pru- 
dence,-she  declined  to  receive  any  token  of  thanks,  lest  it  should  be 
seen,  and  her  errand  of  mercy  be  discovered.  Savage  disappointment 
would  have  visited  vengeance  on  her  head,  though  she  was  the  great 
chiePs  favorite  daughter,  were  it  known  that  she  had  betrayed  the 
secrets  of  her  people.  Silently  she  again  passed  through  the  forest, 
and  returned  unnoticed  to  her  rude  couch,  and  the  intended  victims 
were  saved. 

The  friendship  manifested  by  Pocahontas  for  the  English  was  evi- 
dently on  Smith's  account.  She  had  conceived  for  him  a  strong  attach- 
ment from  the  first.  It  would  have  been  contrary  to  his  chivalric 
nature  if  he  had  not  felt  a  tender  interest  in  her.  The  nature  of  this 
mutual  attachment  was  not  understood  by  some  of  the  coarser-minded 
settlers,  and  doubtless  Smith  was  sometimes  rallied  by  his  comrades  on 
account  of  his  Indian  love.  In  later  times,  imagination  has  framed 
romantic  tales  of  the  tender  relations  which  existed  between  the  adven- 
turous Englishman  and  the  savage  maiden.  The  small  stone  fort,  which 
Smith  partially  constructed  some  miles  away  from  Jamestown,  has  been 
supposed  to  have  been  intended  for  a  safe  retreat  for  the  lovers,  alike 
from  English  settlers  and  from  Indian  warriors.  The  youth  of  Poca- 
hontas, the  difference  in  their  ages,  and  Smith's  character,  render  such 
romantic  fancies  absurd.  Whatever  might  be  the  nature  of  the  feelings 
of  Pocahontas  towards  Smith,  his  regard  for  her  was  not  that  of  a  lover. 

NO.  v.  21 


162  POCAHONTAS. 

Smith  was  not  the  only  one  of  the  settlers  whom  Pocahontas  directly 
rescued  from  death,  while  her  action  and  influence  doubtless  indirectly 
saved  many,  if  not  all,  of  them  from  massacre.  When  Ratcliffe,  after 
Smith's  departure  from  the  colony,  was  inveigled  into  an  ambuscade, 
and  with  thirty  of  his  men  was  slain  by  the  followers  of  Powhatan, 
among  his  company  was  a  boy  named  Henry  Spilman.  This  youth 
would  have  shared  the  fate  of  the  others  had  not  Pocahontas  interfered 
and  saved  his  life.  He  was  detained  a  prisoner,  adopted  into  an  Indian 
family,  and  carried  away  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  where  he  lived 
among  the  natives  for  many  years.  He  acquired  the  Indian  language, 
and  afterwards  did  the  settlers  good  service  as  an  interpreter.  Having 
rejoined  his  countrymen,  his  long  sojourn  with  the  Indians  did  not  save 
him  from  their  hostility,  and  he  was  killed  by  them  in  1622. 

When  Pocahontas  learned  that  Smith  had  left  the  colony,  she  ceased 
to  visit  Jamestown.  He  was  the  only  one  for  whom  she  cared,  and 
when  he  left,  nothing  was  heard  of  her  for  a  long  time.  It  seems  she 
went  to  dwell  with  some  of  her  race  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac, 
where  the  sight  of  the  English  was  not  likely  to  remind  her  of  the 
friend  who  had  deserted  her.  But  about  two  years  after  Smith  left, 
Captain  Argall  sailed  up  the  Potomac  to  trade  for  corn.  Learning 
from  Japazaws,  a  friendly  chief,  that  Powhatan's  favorite  daughter  was 
in  that  region,  he  bribed  the  treacherous  native  to  betray  the  unsus- 
pecting girl  into  his  hands,  his  intention  being  to  hold  her  as  a  hostage 
for  the  good  behavior  of  Powhatan,  who  had  long  been  hostile,  and  to 
exchange  her  for  some  English  prisoners  and  arms  then  held  by  the 
Indians.  When  Pocahontas  discovered  the  treachery  of  Japazaws,  and 
that  she  was  held  as  a  prisoner  by  those  whom  she  had  so  faithfully 
befriended,  she  wept  bitterly,  as  well  she  might,  at  the  perfidy  of  the 
chief,  and  the  ingratitude  of  the  English.  Sending  a  messenger  to  Pow- 
hatan, to  inform  him  that  his  favorite  daughter  was  a  prisoner  and  must 
be  ransomed  by  the  delivery  of  all  the  Englishmen  and  arms  in  his 
possession,  Argall  carried  her  to  Jamestown.  Three  months  afterwards, 
Powhatan,  who  seemed  in  no  haste  to  rescue  his  daughter,  restored 
seven  prisoners  and  some  damaged  guns,  and  sent  word  that  if  his 
daughter  was  released  he  would  make  restitution  for  all  the  injuries  he 
had  inflicted,  give  the  colonists  five  hundred  baskets  of  corn,  and  for- 


A   PRISONER  AT  JAMESTOWN. 

ever  remain  in  peace  and  amity.  Having  little  confidence  in  the  good 
faith  of  the  chief,  the  English  refused  to  surrender  Pocahontas  till  full 
satisfaction  was  rendered. 

Greatly  offended  at  this  demand,  Powhatan  refused  for  a  long  time 
to  have  any  intercourse  with  the  settlers.  At  length  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
•went  up  the  York  River  with  several  small  vessels,  carrying  a  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  and  taking  the  captive  girl  with  him.  Arriving  at  Wer- 
owcomoco,  once  Powhatan's  favorite  residence,  but  now  abandoned  by 
him,  the  English  were  met  with  a  scornful  defiance  from  the  Indian 
warriors,  and  landing  a  strong  party,  they  burned  the  cabins  and  destroyed 
the  poor  possessions  of  the  natives.  They  then  proceeded  farther  up 
the  river  to  Matchot,  another  residence  of  Powhatan,  where  several 
hundred  warriors  were  assembled,  apparently  to  attack  the  intruders. 
The  English  landed,  and  the  natives,  in  wholesome  fear  of  fire-arms, 
asked  for  a  truce  till  Powhatan  could  be  heard  from,  —  a  request  which 
was  readily  granted.  While  waiting  for  the  great  chief's  decision,  two 
of  his  sons  went  on  board  the  vessel  to  see  their  sister  Pocahontas.  It 
had  been  reported  among  the  Indians  that  she  was  sick  and  ill-treated; 
but  finding  that  she  was  well,  the  young  chiefs  were  greatly  pleased, 
and  promised  to  persuade  their  father  to  make  peace  and  forever  be 
friends  with  the  English. 

John  Rolfc  and  another  Englishman  were  sent  to  communicate  to 
Powhatan  the  willingness  of  the  English  to  mak^e  peace  and  exchange 
prisoners.  The  old  chief,  suspicious  of  the  purpose  of  the  visitors,  or 
disp.osed  to  show  his  displeasure  towards  the  English,  refused  to  admit 
them  to  his  presence,  though  they  were  hospitably  entertained.  They 
saw  his  brother,  however;  and  that  chief,  who  was  a  renowned  warrior, 
promised  to  use  his  influence  with  Powhatan  to  secure  peace.  This  was 
more  readily  promised  than  accomplished;  and  as  no  progress  was  made 
towards  a  treaty,  and  it  was  now  planting-time,  Dale  returned  to  James- 
town, determined  to  wait  till  after  the  harvest  before  renewing  hostilities 
and  compelling  a  peace.  Pocahontas  was  carried  back  again,  and 
through  her  a  more  cordial  peace  was  at  last  established. 

During  her  long  stay  at  Jamestown,  Pocahontas  had  adopted  the 
habits  and  manners  of  civilized  life.  She  was  an  object  of  deep  inter- 
est, and  the  few  women  of  the  colony  had  not  spared  their  efforts  to 


POCAHONTAS. 

minister  to  her  material  and  spiritual  welfare.  She  was  clothed  after  the 
manner  of  English  women,  and  she  renounced  the  idolatry  of  her  nation, 
and  was  baptized  as  a  convert  to  Christianity  under  the  name  of  Re- 
becca. She  was  now  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  of  comely  form,  nat- 
urally graceful  carriage,  and  with  features  more  refined  than  was  usual 
in  girls  of  her  race.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  not  strange  that 
there  should  be  young  men  in  the  colony,  where  there  were  no  mar- 
riageable women,  who  should  be  attracted  towards  the  interesting  cap- 
tive. Whether  more  than  one  thought  seriously  of  her,  does  not  appear; 
but  John  Rolfe,  a  young  man  of  good  position,  who  had  lost  his  wife 
either  at  Bermuda  or  since  his  arrival  at  Jamestown,  fell  in  love  with 
her,  and  by  his  attentions  and  kindness  won  her  regard.  Had  Smith 
been  there,  it  is  quite  probable  that  Pocahontas  would  never  have  been 
won  by  another,  for  he  occupied  the  first  place  in  her  heart.  But  she 
had  been  informed  that  he  was  dead,  and  Rolfe  assented  to,  if  he  did 
not  originate,  the  false  report.  Perhaps  he  had  learned  enough  of  her 
sentiments  to  lead  him  to  believe  that  he  had  no  hope  of  winning  her 
heart  if  she  knew  that  Smith  was  living,  and  there  was  a  possibility  of 
meeting  him  again.  Whatever  the  motive,  she  was  made  to  believe  that 
the  man  for  whose  life  she  had  twice  risked  her  own  was  dead,  and  in 
that  belief  she  listened  with  favor  to  Rolfe's  declarations  of  love. 

Laying  the  matter  before  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  the  governor,  Rolfe  pro- 
posed to  marry  Pocahontas,  and  the  governor,  seeing  no  objection  to 
such  a  step,  and  believing  that  it  would  be  the  means  of  securing  the 
lasting  friendship  of  Powhatan,  gave  it  a  hearty  approval.  Pocahontas 
informed  her  brother  of  the  affair,  and  it  was  soon  announced  to  Pow- 
hatan, who,  from  like  motives  of  policy,  gave  his  "  royal "  consent  to  the 
proposed  union.  Still  unwilling  or  not  condescending  to  visit  James- 
town, he  sent  an  aged  uncle  of  Pocahontas  and  her  two  brothers  to 
attend  the  wedding  and  to  represent  him  on  the  occasion. 

The  marriage  took  place  at  Jamestown  in  April,  1613.  The  few 
women  in  the  settlement  of  course  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  occa- 
sion, and  in  the  preparation  of  the  bride  for  the  ceremony.  She  was 
accordingly  arrayed  in  such  appropriate  costume  as  their  limited  ward- 
robes supplied,  and  her  native  simplicity  and  modesty  were  ornaments 
more  attractive  than  costly  jewels.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in 


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HER  MARRIAGE  AND   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND.  165 

the  church,  where  were  assembled  the  governor  and  all  the  principal 
people  among  the  colonists,  together  with  the  uncle  and  brothers  of 
Pocahontas,  and  other  Indians,  men  and  women,  who  had  come  into  the 
town  to  witness  the  strange  proceedings.  The  bride  and  groom  knelt 
before  the  altar,  the  clergyman  in  his  robes  read  the  marriage  service 
of  the  English  church,  the  responses  were  duly  made,  the  wedding-ring 
put  on,  and  the  marriage,  which  has  become  memorable  in  history,  was 
concluded.  Festivities  followed,  and  the  representatives  of  Powhatan, 
highly  delighted,  promised  perpetual  amity  with  the  English. 

For  three  years  Rolfe  and  his  Indian  wife  remained  in  Virginia,  and 
then,  in  1616,  accompanied  Sir  Thomas  Dale  to  England,  where  Poca- 
hontas attracted  great  attention.  She  then  spoke  English  intelligibly, 
and  her  manners  had  become  refined  by  associating  with  gentlewomen, 
and  as  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  great  chief,  or  king,  she  received  the 
courteous  treatment  considered  to  be  due  to  her  rank  as  a  princess, 
although  her  husband  was  an  untitled  and  needy  gentleman. 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Pocahontas  in  England,  Smith  was  pre- 
paring to  sail  for  New  England.  Remembering  with  gratitude  her  de- 
votion to  him,  and  fearing  he  might  not  be  able  personally  to  render  her 
any  service  while  she  was  in  England,  he  addressed  a  memorial  to  the 
queen,  in  which  he  prayed  her  majesty's  favor  towards- the  savior  of  his 
life  in  eloquent  terms,  as  follows:  — 

"  So  it  was,  That  about  ten  years  ago,  being  in  Virginia,  and  taken 
prisoner  by  the  power  of  Powhatan,  their  chief  king,  I  received  from 
this  great  savage  exceeding  great  courtesy,  especially  from  his  son  Nan- 
taquaus,  the  manliest,  comeliest,  boldest  spirit  I  ever  saw  in  a  savage; 
and  his  sister  Pocahontas,  the  king's  most  dear  and  well-beloved  daugh- 
ter, being  but  a  child  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  whose  com- 
passionate, pitiful  heart  of  my  desperate  estate  gave  me  much  cause  to 
respect  her.  I  being  the  first  Christian  this  proud  king  and  his  grim 
attendants  ever  saw,  and  thus  inthralled  in  their  barbarous  power,  I 
cannot  say  I  felt  the  least  occasion  of  want  that  was  in  the  power 
of  those  my  mortal  foes  to  prevent,  notwithstanding  all  their  threats. 
After  some  six  weeks'  fatting  amongst  these  savage  countries,  at  .the 
minute  of  my  execution  she  hazarded  the  beating  out  of  her  own  brains 
to  save  mine;  and  not  only  that,  but  so  prevailed  with  her  father,  that 
I  was  safely  conducted  to  Jamestown.  .  .  . 


!66  POCAHONTAS. 

"  Such  was  the  weakness  of  this  poor  commonwealth,  as  had  not  the 
savages  fed  us  we  directly  had  starved.  And  this  relief,  most  gracious 
Queen,  was  commonly  brought  us  by  this  lady,  Pocahontas;  notwith- 
standing all  these  passages  when  unconstant  fortune  turned  our  peace 
to  war,  this  tender  virgin  would  still  not  spare  to  dare  to  visit  us,  and 
by  her  our  jars  have  been  oft  appeased,  and  our  wants  supplied.  Were 
it  the  policy  of  her  father  thus  to  employ  her,  or  the  ordinance  of  God 
thus  to  make  her  his  instrument,  or  her  extraordinary  affection  for  our 
nation,  I  know  not;  but  of  this  I  am  sure,  when  her  father,  with  the 
utmost  of  his  policy  and  power,  sought  to  surprise  me,  having  but 
eighteen  with  me,  the  dark  night  could  not  affright  her  from  coming 
through  the  irksome  woods,  and,  with  watered  eyes,  give  me  intelli- 
gence, with  her  best  advice  to  escape  his  fury,  which  had  he  known 
he  had  surely  slain  her. 

"Jamestown,  with  her  wild  train  she  as  freely  frequented  as  her 
father's  habitation;  and  during  the  time  of  two  or  three  years,  she,  next 
under  God,  was  still  the  instrument  to  preserve  this  colony  from  death, 
famine,  and  utter  confusion.  .  .  . 

"As  yet  I  never  begged  anything  of  the  state,  and  it  is  my  want 
of  ability  and  her  exceeding  desert;  your  birth,  means,  and  authority; 
her  birth,  virtue,  want,  and  simplicity,  doth  make  me  thus  bold  humbly 
to  beseech  your  majesty  to  take  this  knowledge  of  her,  though  it  be 
from  one  so  unworthy  to  be  the  reporter  as  myself,  her  husband's  estate 
not  being  able  to  make  her  fit  to  attend  your  majesty." 

This  petition  had  the  effect  to  make  the  "  Indian  princess "  known 
not  only  to  the  queen,  but  to  the  court  and  the  general  public,  and  she 
became  an  object  of  much  curiosity  as  well  as  hospitable  attention.  She 
was  presented  at  court  by  Lady  Delaware,  and  was  received  with  spe- 
cial kindness  by  the  king  and  queen,  while  her  "  modest,  dignified,  and 
graceful  deportment  excited  the  admiration  of  all."  She  was  called  "  Lady 
Pocahontas,"  and  we  are  told  by  contemporary  writers  that  she  carried 
\  herself  "as  the  daughter  of  a  king."  The  nobility,  encouraged  by  the 
queen,  paid  marked  attention  to  her,  and  she  was  entertained  at  a  series 
of  masquerades,  balls,  plays,  and  festivities  by  many  of  the  most  prom- 
inent persons  at  court,  including  the  Bishop  of  London.  Many  people, 
also,  of  various  grades,  called  to  pay  their  respects  and  gratify  their  curi- 


INTERVIEW   WITH  SMITH. 


167 


osity,  and  declared  that  "  they  had  seen  many  English  ladies  worse 
favored,  proportioned,  and  behaviored." 

Smith  did  not  leave  London  before  the  arrival  of  Pocahontas,  as  he 
feared  he  might;  and  while  she  was  staying  at  Brentford,  to  avoid  the 
smoke  and  din  of  the  city,  he  went  to  see  her.  His  appearance  affected 
her  deeply.  After  a  hasty  recognition  she  turned  away,  and,  without  ut- 
tering a  word,  buried  her  face  in  her  hands.  In  this  position  and  mood 
she  remained  for  a  long  time,  thus  manifesting,  after  the  manner  of  her 
race,  her  sense  of  injury  and  grief.  This  was  before  Pocahontas  was 
presented  to  the  queen;  and  Smith,  attributing  her  silence  to  want  of 
words  to  express  her  feelings,  says  that  he  regretted  he  had  represented 
that  she  could  speak  English. 

At  length,  however,  she  began  to  talk,  and  reminded  Smith  of  the 
kindness  she  had  shown  him  in  her  own  country.  *  You  did  promise 
Powhatan,"  she  said,  "what  was  yours  should  be  his,  and  he  the  like  to 
you;  you  called  him  father,  being  in  his  land  a  stranger,  and  for  the 
same  reason  so  I  must  call  you."  Smith  declined  to  be  called  "father" 
for  fear  it  might  provoke  the  anger  of  the  king,  who  was  always  jealous 
of  the  royal  prerogative,  and  as  she  was  "  a  king's  daughter "  would 
claim  the  appellation  himself.  It  is  said,  and  probably  Smith  had  heard 
the  report,  that  King  James  was  at  first  greatly  offended  that  Rolfe,  a 
commoner,  should  presume  to  marry  a  princess  without  the  royal  con- 
sent, but  upon  a  fuller  representation  of  the  matter  he  had  expressed 
himself  as  satisfied.  Smith  might  reasonably  suppose,  therefore,  that  the 
king's  absurd  jealousy  of  his  prerogative  would  object  to  one  of  his  sub- 
jects being  called  "  father  "  by  that  same  princess.  Pocahontas,  however, 
was  not  willing  to  abandon  the  name  which  she  had  long  ago  given  to 
Smith,  and  looking  at  him  steadily,  she  said,  "You  were  not  afraid  to  come 
into  my  father's  country  and  cause  fear  in  him  and  all  his  people  but  me, 
and  fear  you  here  that  I  should  call  you  father  ?  I  tell  you  then  I  will, 
and  you  shall  call  me  child,  and  I  will  be  forever  and  ever  your  country- 
woman. They  did  tell  us  always  you  were  dead,  and  I  knew  not  other- 
wise till  I  came  to  Plymouth." 

Whether  the  feelings  which  Pocahontas  entertained  towards  Smith  had 
always  been  those  of  filial  affection,  as  indicated  by  these  expressions, 
there  were  those  who  doubted;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  she  was  told 


POCAHONTAS. 

that  he  was  dead  because  she  had  shown  so  strong  an  interest  in  him.  But 
whatever  may  have  been  the  nature  of  her  affection  for  Smith,  his  regard 
for  her  was  inspired  by  the  purest  gratitude  and  honor,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing authentic  to  show  that  he  ever  expressed  to  her  or  others  any  different 
emotion,  or  in  any  way  encouraged  her  to  think  that  he  regarded  her  other 
than  a  child,  to  whom,  indeed,  he  owed  the  deepest  gratitude  as  the  savior 
of  his  life.  He  had  never  played  the  lover  to  her,  as  perhaps  Rolfe  and 
others  had  imagined,  and  some  romantic  stories  told  long  afterwards  con- 
cerning them  were  mere  fancies,  conceived  perhaps  to  immortalize  certain 
pleasant  localities.  If  the  interview  was  at  first  painful  to  Pocahontas,  it 
ended  more  happily.  They  parted  as  friends,  and  Smith  had  no  reason  to 
reproach  himself  with  deceiving  or  neglecting  her,  since  it  was  chiefly 
through  his  instrumentality  that  she  had  received  the  kindly  attentions  of 
people  of  high  position. 

While  in  England  Pocahontas  gave  birth  to  a  son,  an  event  which  was 
deemed  of  some  importance  to  the  colony  in  Virginia  as  a  further  pledge 
of  peace  between  her  nation  and  the  settlers.  The  Virginia  Company 
made  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  mother  and  child,  and  Rolfe  pre- 
pared to  return  to  Jamestown  with  them,  after  a  stay  in  England  of  about 
a  year.  Pocahontas  was  reluctant  to  return,  dreading  perhaps  the  perils 
of  the  sea  and  the  sickness  which  she  had  experienced  on  the  voyage  out. 
From  the  time  when  her  departure  was  determined  upon  she  seemed  de- 
spondent, as  if  foreboding  some  evil,  and  on  the  eve  of  embarkation  she 
sank  under  a  fatal  malady,  and  died  at  Gravesend  in  the  latter  part  of 
March,  1617,  "  leaving  a  spotless  name,  and  dwelling  in  memory  under  the 
form  of  perpetual  youth."  She  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  Gravesend 
Church,  which  a  hundred  years  later  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  no  mon- 
ument to  her  memory  remains,  if  any  ever  existed. 

The  infant  son  of  Pocahontas,  Thomas  Rolfe,  remained  in  England, 
though  his  father  returned  at  once  to  Virginia.  He  was  educated  by  his 
uncle,  and  afterwards  went  to  Virginia,  where  he  had  a  grant  of  lands,  and 
became  a  man  of  wealth  and  note  in  the  colony.  His  descendants  were 
among  the  distinguished  families  of  Virginia,  who  thus  claim  a  descent 
from  one  who  was  the  "  daughter  of  a  king,"  and  who,  in  truth,  displayed 
the  virtues  that  became  a  princess. 


XVII. 

ARGALL.-A    NEW    CHARTER. -INTRODUCTION 
OF    SLAVES-IMPORTATION    OF    WIVES. 


HEN  Sir  Thomas  Dale  returned  to  England,  Captain 
George  Yeardley  was  appointed  deputy  governor  during 
his  absence.  The  condition  of  affairs  was  such  that  the 
deputy  governor  found  little  difficulty  in  administering 
them.  The  only  trouble  he  had  with  the  Indians  was 
with  the  Chickahominies,  who  at  this  time  refused  to 
observe  a  treaty  which  they  had  previously  made,  and 
to  pay  the  tribute  of  corn  required  by  it.  Yeardley  con- 
ducted a  force  of  a  hundred  men  against  the  refractory  savages,  and, 
after  "killing  some  and  making  some  prisoners,"  brought  off  much  of 
their  corn.  With  the  other  natives  the  English  were  now  on  friendly 
and  familiar  terms,  and  gradually  ceased  to  feel  the  necessity  for  the 
protection  of  fortifications.  They  had  already  been  distributed  among 
six  or  seven  different  settlements,  which  contained  from  twenty-five  to 
one  hundred  inhabitants,  the  total  number  being  three  hundred  and  fifty. 
From  the  settlements  or  towns  they  soon  began  to  occupy  outlying 
plantations  wherever  they  could  take  up  fertile  land  for  cultivation. 
Yeardley  directed  the  attention  of  the  settlers  to  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco,  which  was  becoming  much  used  in  England,  and  was  by  far 
the  most  profitable  article  of  commerce  that  they  could  produce.  It 
soon  became  the  staple  production  of  the  colony,  and  has  ever  since 
maintained  its  importance  as  a  chief  source  of  wealth  to  colony  and 
state.  Engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  plantations  allotted  them,  the 
NO.  v.  22  169 


170 


ARC  ALL. 


colonists  neglected  the  common  settlements,  and  suffered  them  to  go 
to  decay;  and  when,  in  1617,  Argall  —  who,  by  the  intrigues  of  unscru- 
pulous friends  in  the  Virginia  Company,  was  appointed  deputy  governor 
and  admiral  —  arrived  at  Jamestown,  he  found  there  but  five  or  six  hab- 
itable houses,*  the  church  fallen,  and  a  storehouse  used  for  religious 
services  instead,  the  palisades  broken,  and  the  streets  and  market-place, 
and  all  vacant  ground,  planted  with  tobacco.  Excessive  attention  to  the 
cultivation  of  tobacco,  indeed,  led  to  a  scarcity  of  corn;  but  Argall,  who 
was  a  man  of  energy,  by  trade  with  the  Indians  secured  the  necessary 
supply  of  that  important  commodity. 

Argall  was  energetic  in  promoting  his  own  profit  as  well  as  in  the 
administration  of  affairs.  Coming  invested  with  powers  to  enforce  mar- 
tial law  more  arbitrarily  than  Dale  had  been,  unlike  that  prudent  gov- 
ernor he  exercised  his  powers  to  the  utmost  limit,  and  in  a  despotic 
way,  seeking  to  enrich  himself  by  extortion  and  oppression.  He  decreed, 
among  other  things,  that  tobacco  should  be  rated  at  a  fixed  value  of 
three  shillings,  and  whoever  rated  it  either  higher  or  lower  should  be 
subjected  to  three  years'  slavery  to  the  colony;  that  there  should  be  no 
trade  or  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  and  that  none  of  them  should  be 
taught  the  use  of  fire-arms  under  the  penalty  of  death  to  both  teacher 
and  learner;  that  no  man  should  fire  a  gun  before  a  new  supply  of 
ammunition  arrived,  on  pain  of  a  year's  slavery;  that  no  one  should 
hunt  deer  or  hogs  without  his  leave.  The  Puritans  are  considered  stern 
in  their  measures  to  secure  attendance  at  "  meeting,"  but  they  were  not 
more  severe  nor  quite  so  arbitrary  as  was  Argall  in  enforcing  the  vir- 
tue of  church-going.  His  edict  was,  that  absence  from  church  on  Sun- 
days or  holidays  should  be  punished  by  confinement  for  the  night  and 
one  week's  slavery  to  the  colony;  for  the  second  offence,  slavery  for  a 
month;  and  for  the  third,  slavery  for  a  year  and  a  day.  While  many 
of  his  regulations  were  wise,  and  calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  colony,  the  penalties  for  offences  were  often  excessive  and  barbarous, 
and  as  he  enforced  them  with  characteristic  energy,  he  became  an  odious 
and  intolerable  tyrant. 

Some  of  the  colonists  sent  a  report  of  Argall's  oppressive  proceed- 
ings to  England,  and  some  of  the  members  of  the  council  of  the  London 

*  Many  of  the  houses  were  of  very  slight  construction,  and  when  neglected  soon  went  to  ruin. 


ARC  ALL'S  TYRANNY. 

Company  addressed  to  him  a  letter  reciting  a  s'eries  of  charges  against 
him  for  dishonesty,  corruption,  and  oppression.  Another  letter  was 
addressed  to  Lord  Delaware,  who  had  previously  sailed  with  another 
party  of  emigrants  for  Virginia,  but  who,  with  thirty  others,  had  died 
on  the  passage.  In  this  letter  the  writer  said  that  such  was  the  indig- 
nation of  the  stockholders  in  the  Company  against  Argall,  that  they  could 
hardly  be  restrained  from  going  to  the  king,  although  he  was  on  a  dis- 
tant journey,  and  procuring  his  Majesty's  command  for  recalling  him  as 
a  malefactor.  Lord  Delaware  was  also  directed  to  seize  all  the  goods 
and  property  in  Argall's  possession.  This  letter,  in  consequence  of  Lord 
Delaware's  death,  came  to  the  hands  of  Argall  as  deputy  governor. 
Knowing  that  his  career  was  drawing  to  a  close,  he  determined  to  im- 
prove the  time  before  he  should  be  superseded,  and  he  accordingly 
increased  his  extortions  and  grew  more  tyrannical  than  ever.  His  un- 
scrupulous conduct  is  shown  by  his  removal  of  the  servants  from  Lord 
Delaware's  estate  without  any  authority  to  do  so,  and  employing  them 
on  his  own  land;  and  his  tyranny  is  exhibited  in  his  treatment  of  Ed- 
ward Brewster,  the  steward  of  Lord  Delaware,  who  had  been  left  in 
management  of  the  property,  and  was  a  man  of  good  repute.  Brewster 
endeavored  to  make  the  servants  return,  and  upon  the  refusal  of  one 
of  them  to  do  so  he  threatened  him  with  the  consequences  of  his  con- 
tumacy. Argall  immediately  ordered  Brewster  to  be  arrested  on  a  charge 
of  sedition  and  mutiny,  and  tried  by  a  court-martial,  by  whom  he  was 
speedily  convicted  and  condemned  to  death.  Shocked  at  their  own  act, 
however,  some  of  the  members  of  the  court  joined  with  the  clergy  and 
interceded  for  his  pardon,  which  Argall  reluctantly  granted  on  condition 
that  Brewster  should  leave  Virginia  under  an  oath  never  to  return,  and 
never  to  "say  or  do  anything  to. the  disparagement  of  the  deputy  gov- 
ernor." Repudiating  the  obligation  of  an  oath  extorted  under  duress, 
Brewster,  on  reaching  England,  appealed  to  the  Company,  and  exposed 
more  fully  Argall's  corrupt  and  tyrannical  conduct. 

Captain  George  Yeardley  was  now  appointed  governor  and  captain- 
general  of  Virginia  (1619),  and  was  knighted,  the  better  to  qualify  him 
for  the  place,  perhaps,  by  securing  to  him  more  respect  from  the  colo- 
nists. Before  the  new  governor  arrived,  Argall,  having  made  the  most 
of  his  opportunities,  loaded  a  vessel  with  his  effects  and  sailed  for 


172 


A  NEW  CHARTER. 


England,  where,  being  a  relative  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  the  treasurer 
of  the  Company,  he  was  never  called  to  account.  He  left  Captain  Na- 
thaniel Powell,  who  had  come  over  with  Smith,  as  his  deputy,  who, 
however,  held  his  office  only  ten  days  before  the  arrival  of  Yeardley 
with  a  new  charter  for  the  colony,  and  a  number  of  new  settlers. 

The  new  charter  provided  for  a  legislative  assembly  composed  of 
"  burgesses "  elected  by  the  freemen  of  the  several  towns,  plantations, 
and  hundreds,  which  were  styled  "  boroughs."  The  first  assembly,  which 
was  also  the  first  that  ever  met  in  America,  was  convened  at  James- 
town on  the  3oth  of  July,  1619,  and  held  its  session  in  the  choir  of  the 
church.  It  enacted  laws  for  the  government  of  the  colony,  and  disposed 
of  complaints  for  offences  by  voting  such  punishment  as  the  case  seemed 
"to  require.  Among  the  laws  enacted  were  such  as  the  following:  "It 
shall  be  free  for  every  man  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  servants  only 
excepted  upon  pain  of  whipping,  unless  the  master  will  redeem  it  off 
with  the  payment  of  an  angel."  "  No  man  to  sell  or  give  any  of  the 
greater  hoes  to  the  Indians,  or  any  English  dog  of  quality,  as  a  mastiff, 
greyhound,  bloodhound,  land  or  water  spaniel."  "  Any  man  selling  arms 
or  ammunition  to  the  Indians  to  be  hanged  so  soon  as  the  act  is  proved." 
All  ministers  "  shall  duly  read  divine  service  and  exercise  their  minis- 
terial function  according  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  every  Sunday,  in  the  afternoon,  shall  catechize  such  as  are  not 
ripe  to  come  to  the  communion."  "  All  persons  whatsoever,  upon  the 
Sabbath  days,  shall  frequent  divine  service  and  sermons,  both  forenoon 
and  afternoon;  and  all  such  as  bear  arms  shall  bring  their  pieces,  swords, 
powder,  and  shot."  The  Virginia  colonists,  it  will  be  observed,  though 
not  so  austere  as  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  were  not  remiss  in 
compelling  attendance  at  church.  In  many  other  matters,  however,  they 
were  not  so  particular  in  enforcing  good  morals.  Measures  were  adopted 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  new  government  by  the  colonists  themselves. 
A  large  tract  of  land  was  appropriated  to  the  governor;  and  to  compen- 
sate the  speaker,  clerk,  and  officers  of  the  assembly,  a  pound  of  the  best 
tobacco  was  levied  from  every  male  above  sixteen  years  of  age. 

In  August,  1619,  occurred  an  event  which  is  generally  said  to  have 
had  a  far-reaching  influence  on  the  affairs  not  only  of  Virginia,  but  of 
other  colonies,  and  the  sequences  of.  which  ultimately  produced  fearful 


INTRODUCTION  OF  SLAVES. 


173 


results  in  the  states  which  succeeded  the  colonies.  A  Dutch  man-of- 
war  at  that  time  visited  Jamestown  and  sold  to  the  settlers  twenty  ne- 
groes as  slaves.  This  was  the  first  introduction  of  negro  slavery  into 
the  country;  but  this  event  is  remarkable  only  as  being  the  beginning 
of  what  would  soon  have  come  through  other  means.  A  kind  of  slavery, 
or  enforced  and  unpaid  service,  already  existed;  and  among  a  body  of 
colonists,  so  many  of  whom  looked  upon  labor  as  degrading,  any  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  labor  for  the  now  increasing  plantations,  and  for  the 
performance  of  menial  service,  was  pretty  likely  to  be  improved.  The 
condition  of  the  white  servants  of  the  colony,  many  of  them  convicts, 
and  rendering  compulsory  service,  was  so  abject  that  chattel  slavery  was 
seemingly  but  a  short  step  beyond.  It  was  a  step  which  any  people 
of  that  age,  under  like  circumstances,  would  not  have  hesitated  to  take. 

There  was  another  arrival  the  same  year,  of  far  more  immediate 
advantage,  and  of  ultimate  benefit  rather  than  evil.  The  London  Com- 
pany, under  the  wise  and  energetic  management  of  the  new  treasurer, 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  sent  out  upwards  of  twelve  hundred  additional  em- 
igrants, and  among  the  number  were  ninety  marriageable  women.  "  The 
people  of  Virginia  had  not  been  settled  in  their  minds;"  they  had  gone 
there  to  "  make  their  fortunes  "  and  return  to  England,  very  few  of  them 
looking  upon  the  new  country  as  their  home.  It  was  desirable  that  they 
should  become  attached  to  the  soil,  and  held  by  ties  that  would  preclude 
the  idea  of  seeking  homes  elsewhere.  The  granting  of  land  was  one 
step  towards  this  happy  condition;  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  have 
the  society  of  women  and  the  associations  of  family.  Few  women  had 
yet  dared  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  but  the  affairs  of  the  colony  were  at 
last  in  so  fair  a  condition  that  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  succeeded  in  inducing 
"  ninety  agreeable  persons,  young  and  incorrupt,"  to  embark  for  the  col- 
ony, where  they  were  assured  of  a  welcome  and  a  prospect  of  honorable 
settlement  in  marriage.  They  were  transported  at  the  cost  of  the  cor- 
poration; and,  in  anticipation  of  a  sharp  demand  among  such  a  number 
of  unmarried  men,  a  rule  was  established  that  none  but  those  well  able 
to  support  them  should  marry  them,  and  that  in  every  case  the  cost  of 
transportation  should  be  paid  by  the  husband,  it  being  fixed  at  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco. 

It    may  well   be   imagined  that  the   arrival   of  these   new  emigrants 


174 


IMPORTATION  OF  WIVES. 


created  an  unusual  excitement  among  the  settlers. .  When  it  was  known 
—  and  the  news  was  quickly  spread  —  that  ninety  young  women,  candi- 
dates for  wedlock,  were  on  board  the  ships,  the  planters  and  others  who 
had  any  desire  for  a  wife  hastened  to  Jamestown  to  take  a  view  of  the 
fair  ones,  and  to  select  their  mates.  The  rules  of  the  Company,  how- 
ever, were  strictly  applied,  and  the  unfortunate  wight  who  wanted  a 
wife  but  had  not  the  means  to  support  one,  was  sent  away  disconsolate; 
and  even  the  more  fortunate  man  who  had  a  house  and  plantation, 
must  make  or  secure  the  payment  of  the  hundred  and  twenty  pounds 
of  tobacco  before  he  could  take  his  chosen  partner  to  the  clergyman 
to  be  married. 

Doubtless  there  were  some  pretty  hasty  marriages  which,  under 
other  circumstances,  might  have  been  followed  by  a  leisurely  repent- 
ance; but,  on  the  whole,  there  was  perhaps  as  reasonable  good  luck 
in  these  marriages  as  the  parties  would  have  had  in  England,  with  a 
wider  choice.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  settler  went  with  his 
proper  weight  of  tobacco,  and  bought  a  wife  as  he  might  a  piece  of 
furniture.  The  consent  of  the  woman  was  necessary,  and  the  man  must 
appear  as  a  suitor,  though  probably  the  courtship  was  remarkably  short. 
These  women  were  confessedly  in  search  of  husbands,  and,  though  said 
to  be  of  good  repute,  they  were  not  of  a  class  to  be  fastidious,  or  to 
stand  long  on  ceremony.  It  was  not  long  before  the  entire  number  was 
disposed  of,  and  the  unfortunate  bachelors  cried  for  more.  The  adven- 
ture, which  had  been  in  part  a  mercantile  speculation,  as  well  as  an 
effort  to  give  permanence  to  the  colony,  proved  so  successful  that  an 
attempt  was  made  to  send  a  hundred  more  candidates  for  matrimony 
the  next  year.  But  the  Company  found  itself  so  poor  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  subscriptions  to  obtain  means  to  forward  this  interest- 
ing freight,  and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  they  were  enabled  to  send 
sixty.  Whether  these  were  a  superior  class  to  those  previously  sent 
is  not  certain,  but  they  were  described  as  maids  of  virtuous  education, 
young,  handsome,  and  well  recommended.  A  portion  only  of  the 
sixty  were  first  sent  out,  and  with  this  consignment  went  the  following 
letter :  — 

"  We  send  you  a  shipment,  one  widow  and  eleven  maids,  for  wives 
of  the  people  of  Virginia:  there  hath  been  especial  care  had  in  the 


on 

B 

u 

H 
H 
Id 
CO 

Id 

E 
H 

Pi 
O 


A    WISE  POLICT. 


175 


choice  of  them,  for  there  hath  not  one  of  them  been  received  but 
upon  good  commendations. 

"  In  case  they  cannot  be  presently  married,  we  desire  that  they  may 
be  put  with  several  householders  that  have  wives  until  they  can  be 
provided  with  husbands.  There  are  nearly  fifty  more  that  are  shortly 
to  come,  and  are  sent  by  our  honorable  lord  and  treasurer,  the  Earl  of 
Southampton,  and  certain  worthy  gentlemen,  who,  taking  into  considera- 
tion that  the  plantation  can  never  flourish  till  families  be  planted,  and 
the  respect  of  wives  and  children  fix  the  people  on  the  soil,  therefore 
have  given  this  fair  beginning;  for  the  reimbursing  of  whose  charges  it  is 
ordered  that  every  man  that  marries  them  give  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  of  best  leaf  tobacco  for  each  of  them.  .  .  . 

"We  desire  that  the  marriage  be  free  according  to  nature,  and  we 
would  not  have  those  maids  deceived  and  married  to  servants,  but  only 
to  such  freemen  or  tenants  as  have  means  to  maintain  them.  We  pray 
you,  therefore,  to  be  fathers  of  them  in  this  business,  not  enforcing  them 
to  marry  against  their  wills." 

The  policy  of  thus  providing  wives  for  the  colonists  was  a  wise  one, 
and  of  great  benefit  to  the  colony.  Emigrants  who  otherwise  would 
have  made  Virginia  only  a  place  of  temporary  abode,  were  content  to 
settle  down  permanently  and  become  industrious  owners  and  cultivators 
of  the  soil.  They  had  their  household  gods  with  them,  and  were  no 
longer  mere  adventurers  seeking  some  turn  of  fortune's  wheel  which 
should  enable  them  some  time  to  establish  a  home  in  England. 

In  1620,  by  the  arbitrary  interference  of  King  James,  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys  was  suspended  as  treasurer  of  the  Company,  which  office  he 
had  wisely  administered,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton  was  elected  in  his 
place,  though  the  latter  was  not  the  choice  of  the  king.  At  the  same 
time,  an  unscrupulous  and  corrupt  faction  made  it  so  uncomfortable  for 
Yeardley  that  he  begged  to  retire  from  office  as  governor  of  the  colony. 
Sir  Francis  Wyatt,  an  Irish  gentleman  of  education  and  integrity,  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  The  new  governor  arrived  in  October,  1621, 
with  a  large  number  of  emigrants,  and  still  another  frame  of  govern- 
ment, in  which,  however,  the  assembly  was  preserved.  He  brought, 
also,  a  body  of  instructions  for  the  guidance  of  the  governor  and  council, 
according  to  which  he  was  to  provide  for  the  service  of  God  in  con- 


176 


COMPREHENSIVE  INSTRUCTIONS. 


formity  with  the  Church  of  England,  as  near  as  may  be;  to  be  obedient 
to  the  king,  and  to  administer  justice  according  to  the  laws  of  England; 
not  to  injure  the  natives,  and  to  forget  old  quarrels  now  buried;  to  be 
industrious,  and  to  suppress  drunkenness,  gaming,  and  excess  in  clothes; 
not  to  permit  any  but  the  council  and  heads  of  hundreds  to  wear  gold  in 
their  clothes,  or  to  wear  silk  till  they  make  it  themselves;  not  to  offend 
any  foreign  prince;  to  punish  pirates;  to  build  forts;  to  endeavor  to  con- 
vert the  heathen;  and  each  town  to  teach  some  of  the  Indian  children 
fit  for  the  college  which  was  to  be  built;  to  cultivate  corn,  wine,  and 
silk;  to  search  for  minerals,  dyes,  gums,  and  medicinal  drugs,  and  to 
draw  off  the  people  from  the  excessive  planting  of  tobacco,  or  any  such 
useless  commodity;  to  build  water-mills;  to  make  salt,  pitch,  tar,  and 
ashes;  to  make  oil  of  walnuts,  and  employ  apothecaries  in  distilling  lees 
of  beer;  to  make  small  quantity  of  tobacco,  and  that  very  good.  Here, 
certainly,  were  instructions  enough,  and  many  of  them  excellent,  to  keep 
the  governor  busy  in  carrying  them  into  effect,  and  thus  promoting  the 
welfare  of  the  colony. 

The  colony  was  now  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  the  tide  of  emi- 
gration was  strongly  setting  towards  it.  During  the  year  when  Governor 
Wyatt  arrived,  twenty-one  vessels  came  over,  bringing  more  than  thir- 
teen hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  and  during  the  following  year 
more  than  two  thousand  arrived. 


XVIII. 

MASSACRE   OF   SETTLERS   BY   THE    INDIANS. 


N  the  midst  of  the  prosperity  which  was  dawning  on  the 
infant  colony  a  fearful  calamity  befell  it.  The  aged  Pow- 
hatan,  who  had  maintained  peaceful  relations  with  the 
settlers  since  the  marriage  of  Pocahontas,  was  gathered 
to  his  fathers,  and  his  brother,  Opechancanough,  a  "warlike 
chief,  succeeded  him  as  head  of  all  the  neighboring  tribes. 
When  Wyatt  arrived,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  this  chief 
to  renew  the  treaties  of  peace  and  friendship  which  had 
existed  between  Powhatan  and  the  colonists.  Opechancanough  seemed 
well  disposed,  and  confirmed  the  pledges  of  harmony.  He  was,  how- 
ever, a  treacherous  savage,  and  had  a  great  dislike  for  the  English. 
Fear  alone  kept  him  peaceful,  and  he  only  needed  a  pretext  and  an 
opportunity  to  take  them  at  disadvantage  to  inflict  upon  the  objects  of 
his  hatred  a  terrible  vengeance.  A  pretext  was  soon  found,  and  an 
opportunity  was  cautiously  awaited. 

Among  the  Indians  there  was  a  famous  chief  named  Nemattenow, 
or  "Jack  of  the  Feather,"  as  he  was  styled  by  the  English,  from  the 
manner  in  which  he  ornamented  his  hair.  This  chief  went  to  the  store 
of  one  of  the  settlers  named  Morgan  and  persuaded  him  to  go  to  Pa- 
munkey  to  trade,  when  he  murdered  him  on  the  way.  A  few  days 
afterwards  Nemattenow  appeared  again  at  Morgan's  place,  and  told  two 
of  the  latter's  servants  who  inquired  for  their  master  that  he  was  dead. 
These  young  men,  seeing  their  master's  cap  upon  the  Indian's  head, 
suspected  that  he  had  committed  the  murder,  but  without  charging  him 
NO.  v.  23  177 


178  MASSACRE  OF  SETTLERS  BT  THE   INDIANS. 

with  it  undertook  to  conduct  him  to  Mr.  Thorpe,  a  pious  gentleman 
who  had  labored  zealously  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  and  had 
treated  them  with  uniform  kindness,  that  he  might  question  the  sus- 
pected savage.  Mr.  Thorpe  had  by  many  acts  of  friendship  endeavored 
to  secure  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  Indians.  He  had  built 
a  house  for  Opechancanough,  with  which  that  redoubtable  chief  was 
highly  pleased,  and  he  had  caused  some  English  mastiffs,  which  were 
a  source  of  terror  to  the  natives,  to  be  killed.  He  was,  therefore,  an 
excellent  person  to  inquire  into  the  disappearance  of  Morgan  without 
exciting  alarm  or  hostility  among  the  Indians. 

But  on  the  way  Nemattenow  objected  to  going  to  Mr.  Thorpe,  or 
otherwise  got  into  a  quarrel  with  the  young  men,  and  one  of  them  shot 
and  wounded  him.  Then  putting  him  into  a  boat,  they  carried  him  a 
prisoner  to  Jamestown,  where  he  shortly  after  died.  Before  his  death 
he  begged  the  young  men  not  to  disclose  the  fact  that  he  was  wounded 
by  a  bullet,  for  he  had  always  boasted  among  his  own  people  that  he 
was  invulnerable  to  English  arms.  Opechancanough  was  greatly  in- 
censed at  the  loss  of  one  of  his  most  famous  warriors,  and  muttered 
threats  of  revenge.  His  threats,  however,  were  met  with  defiance  by 
the  English,  and  he  accordingly  suppressed  his  anger,  and  still  made 
professions  of  friendship,  which  the  settlers  accepted  without  question. 

At  this  time,  as  before  stated,  the  settlers  were  scattered  at  various 
points  between  the  James  and  Potomac  Rivers,  and  had  established 
plantations  wherever  fertile  lands  had  attracted  them.  Many  of  them 
were,  unwisely,  destitute  of  arms,  and  had  no  defences  about  their  houses, 
which  were  everywhere  open  to  the  Indians,  and  were  frequented  by 
them  at  all  times.  Such  was  the  feeling  of  security  that  the  natives 
were  readily  allowed  not  only  to  eat  at  the  tables  of  the  settlers,  but 
to  lodge  under  their  roofs. 

Opechancanough  here  found  his  opportunity  for  revenge.  With  con- 
summate artifice  he  concealed  his  purpose  under  a  show  of  friendship, 
while  he  instructed  his  followers  in  his  bloody  plans.  Scattered  at  all 
points  where  the  English  had  established  themselves,  they  were  to  await 
the  time  fixed  for  a  general  massacre;  and  so  secretly  were  the  plans 
perfected  that  up  to  the  very  day  and  hour  set  for  the  horrible  butchery 
they  were  not  divulged,  nor  the  least  indication  given  of  what  was  about 


AN  UNEXPECTED  ATTACK. 


179 


to  occur.  About  the  middle  of  March,  only  a  week  before  the  fatal  day, 
a  messenger  having  been  sent  to  Opechancanough  on  some  errand,  that 
cunning  chief  entertained  him  kindly,  and  protested  that  he  held  the 
peace  so  firm  that  the  sky  should  fall  before  he  broke  it.  On  the  twen- 
tieth of  the  same  month  the  Indians  guided  a  party  of  the  English  safely 
through  the  forest,  and  the  more  completely  to  lull  all  suspicion  they 
sent  one  Brown,  who  was  domiciled  with  them  for  the  purpose  of  learn- 
ing their  language,  home  to  his  master.  They  even  borrowed  boats  to 
cross  the  river  to  hold  a  council  on  the  proposed  attack;  and  on  the 
evening  before,  and  the  very  morning  of  the  massacre,  they  came  un- 
armed into  the  houses  of  the  unsuspecting  colonists  with  fish,  turkeys, 
and  venison  for  sale,  and  sat  down  to  eat  at  the  breakfast  tables. 

It  was  the  season  of  planting,  and  on  the  22d  of  March,  1622,  the 
settlers  went  to  the  fields  to  work,  or  engaged  in  avocations  about  their 
houses.  At  about  noon  that  day  the  savages  suddenly,  and  everywhere 
at  the  same  time,  came  forth  from  the  woods  and  hiding-places,  and  fell 
upon  the  unsuspecting  and  unarmed  whites  and  butchered  them.  From 
the  fields  they  proceeded  to  the  houses,  and  swiftly  falling  upon  the 
inmates,  killed  them,  sparing  neither  age,  sex,  nor  condition.  Women 
and  children,  the  sick  and  helpless,  alike  fell  before  the  infuriate  savages. 
Even  their  steadfast  friend,  Mr.  Thorpe,  who,  though  warned  by  a  ser- 
vant of  the  approach  of  the  Indians,  still  trusted  to  his  influence  over 
them,  fell  a  victim  to  his  misplaced  confidence,  and  was  murdered  with 
remorseless  cruelty. 

A  few  of  the  settlers  defended  themselves  with  fire-arms,  and  drove 
the  Indians  away.  One  of  Smith's  old  soldiers  was  surrounded  by 
Indians,  when,  although  wounded,  he  killed  one  of  his  assailants  with 
an  axe,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight.  A  settler  named  Baldwin,  by  the 
good  use  of  his  gun,  saved  himself  and  family,  the  savages  still  having 
a  wholesome  fear  of  bullets.  Not  far  from  Baldwin's  house  the  savages 
at  the  same  time  appeared  at  another  house  where  was  Thomas  Hamor, 
who  from  Smith's  time  was  well  known  to  them.  They  attempted  to 
induce  Hamor  to  come  out  of  the  house,  saying  that  Opechancanough 
was  hunting  in  the  neighboring  woods,  arid  desired  to  have  his  aid. 
Hamor  was  writing  at  the  time,  and  was  not  disposed  to  leave  that 
occupation.  The  Indians  then  set  fire  to  a  tobacco-house,  and  several 


180  MASSACRE   OF  SETTLERS  BY  THE   INDIANS. 

men  who  were  in  the  house  with  Hamor  ran  out,  when  they  were  pur- 
sued by  the  Indians  and  killed.  When  Hamor  had  finished  his  writing, 
he  also  went  out  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  entirely  unsuspicious  of 
treachery;  but  he  was  pierced  in  the  back  with  an  arrow,  and  hurrying 
into  the  house,  barricaded  it.  There  were  with  him  now  none  but 
women  and  children,  but  fortunately  a  boy  of  the  family,  finding  a 
loaded  gun,  discharged  it  at  random,  and  the  Indians  withdrew  after 
setting  fire  to  the  house.  Baldwin  was  still  firing  his  gun,  and  Hamor, 
with  the  women  and  children,  fled  to  his  house,  where  they  were  saved 
from  the  knife  and  tomahawk.  Another  family  seems  to  have  been 
overlooked  by  the  savages  and  escaped,  not  knowing  anything  of  the 
massacre  until  two  days  after,  though  all  the  people  of  their  region  — 
seventy-three  in  number  —  were  killed;  so  quietly  did  arrow,  knife,  and 
club  do  their  bloody  work. 

Thus  in  an  hour  three  hundred  and  forty-nine  men,  women,  and 
children  were  massacred,  and  their  bodies  mangled  by  the  'savages,  who 
carried  away  scalps  and  limbs  as  trophies.  Six  of  the  victims  were 
members  of  the  council,  and  many  others  were  among  the  most  worthy 
of  the  colonists.  The  massacre  was  intended  to  be  universal,  for  Ope- 
chancanough  had  boasted  to  his  people  that  he  would  wipe  the  English 
from  the  land.  It  might  have  been  more  successful  but  for  the  disclo- 
sure of  a  converted  Indian,  who  during  the  night  preceding  had  revealed 
the  plot  to  the  settler  with  whom  he  lived.  This  man,  after  fortifying 
his  own  house,  hastened  to  Jamestown  and  gave  the  alarm  to  the  gov- 
ernor, who  took  such  precautions  that  all  within  reach  were  saved  from 
destruction. 

The  massacre  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  surviving  colonists, 
though  their  numbers  were  sufficient  to  oppose  any  force  which  the 
Indians  could  muster.  They  were  completely  demoralized  by  fear,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  days  elapsed  before  any  plan  of  defence  was  determined 
upon.  Many  were  urgent  to  abandon  James  River,  and  to  withdraw  to 
the  eastern  shore,  where  some  newly  settled  plantations  had  been  undis- 
turbed. At  length  it  was  determined  to  abandon  the  weaker  and  more 
exposed  settlements,  and  concentrate  the  population  in  five  or  six  places 
which  could  be  well  fortified  and  defended.  Some  of  the  planters  who 
occupied  exposed  situations  were  unwilling  to  leave  their  plantations, 


SMITH'S  OFFER  TO  PUNISH  THE  SAVAGES. 

and  a  few  persisted  in  remaining,  and  resolutely  fortified  and  defended 
their  dwellings,  while  others  were  compelled  by  force  to  withdraw.  In 
the  mean  time,  a  large  part  of  the  cattle  and  effects  of  the  victims  of 
the  massacre,  and  of  those  who  left  their  homes,  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the 
Indians,  and  the  horrors  of  famine  threatened  to  follow.  Fortunately, 
however,  this  evil  was  averted. 

When  intelligence  of  the  sad  event  reached  England,  it  aroused  a 
great  deal  of  sympathy  and  indignation.  King  James,  with  a  pretence 
of  magnanimity,  but  with  characteristic  meanness,  granted  the  Virginia 
Company  some  unserviceable  arms  from  the  Tower,  and  "  lent  them 
twenty  barrels  of  powder."  One  of  the  nobility,  with  somewhat  more 
sincere  generosity,  gave  sixty  coats  of  mail,  and  the  city  of  London  sent 
out  one  hundred  settlers  to  recruit  the  diminished  colony.  But  Captain 
John  Smith,  who  had  had  experience  with  the  Indians,  and  knew  their 
characteristics  and  how  best  to  deal  with  them,  made  a  better  considered 
proposal.  He  offered,  if  the  Company  would  send  him  to  Virginia  with 
a  small  force,  to  reduce  the  savages  to  subjection  and  protect  the  colony 
from  future  attacks.  The  Company,  however,  was  as  much  demoralized 
as  the  colonists;  filled  with  dissensions,  it  scarcely  entertained  the  offer, 
and  the  few  who  were  willing  to  accept  it  proposed  such  niggardly 
terms  that  the  bold  and  chivalrous  Smith  was  disgusted,  and  the  project 
failed. 

In  Virginia,  when  the  first  effects  of  the  massacre  had  passed,  a 
spirit  of  retaliation  naturally  followed.  The  colonists  were  Englishmen, 
and  were  not  to  be  cowed  by  these  poorly-armed  savages.  Opechan- 
canough  still  entertained  the  purpose  of  annihilating  the  people  who  had 
come  to  take  possession  of  his  country,  and  in  a  message  which  he  sent 
to  Japazaws,  a  chief  of  the  Potomacs,  urging  him  to  slay  a  party  •  of 
Englishmen  who  were  trading  on  that  river,  he  boasted  of  the  massacre, 
and  declared  that  before  the  end  of  two  moons  not  an  Englishman 
should  be  left  in  all  the  country.  Japazaws,  however,  would  not  be 
bribed  to  kill  his  guests,  but  informed  Crashaw,  the  commander  of 
the  party,  of  Opechancanough's  proposal,  who  thereupon  sent  a  challenge 
to  that  redoubtable  chief  "  that  he  would  nakedly  fight  him,  or  any  of  his, 
with  their  own  swords."  Defiance  like  this  was  not  the  kind  of  war- 
fare suited  to  the  Indian  character,  and  the  challenge  was  not  accepted. 


182  MASSACRE   OF  SETTLERS  BT  THE   INDIANS. 

The  chief  preferred  stratagem  and  treachery,  and  he  hoped  to  repeat  the 
massacre  of  defenceless  settlers.  But  the  colonists  were  more  wary 
now,  the  Indians  were  no  longer  allowed  to  come  freely  into  the  settle- 
ments, and  all  their  movements  "were  carefully  watched.  Captain  Mad- 
ison, who  occupied  a  fort  on  the  Potomac,  suspecting  a  treacherous 
movement  on  the  part  of  a  tribe  there,  without  waiting  to  verify  his 
suspicions,  attacked  their  village,  and  killed  thirty  or  forty  of  their  men, 
women,  and  children.  Similar  punishment  for  suspected  treachery  was 
inflicted  upon  smaller  numbers  at  other  points,  and  the  Indians  soon 
found  that  another  massacre  was  impossible. 

When  corn  was  ripe,  Sir  George  Yeardley,  with  three  hundred  men, 
invaded  the  territory  of  the  Nansemonds,  who  set  fire  to  their  cabins, 
and  fled.  Yeardley,  however,  obtained  their  corn,  which  was  the  chief 
object  of  his  expedition.  He  then  visited  the  residence  of  Opechan- 
canough,  and  inflicted  a  like  punishment  upon  the  immediate  followers 
of  the  great  chief,  who  thus  found  that  his  treachery  had  provoked  a 
spirit  of  retaliation  from  which  his  race  was  likely  to  be  the  greatest 
sufferers.  For  several  years  subsequent  to  the  massacre  this  spirit  pre- 
vailed. A  war  of  extermination  was  fiercely  advocated  by  some  of  the 
colonists,  and,  to  some  extent,  such  a  policy  was  adopted  by  the  author- 
ities. The  rights  of  the  Indians  were  no  longer  in  any  degree  respected, 
and  they  were  driven  from  the  choice  lands  where  they  had  established 
their  villages  and  plantations.  In  July  of  1623  an  organized  force  of  the 
colonists  made  a  campaign  against  the  neighboring  tribes,  and  a  law 
of  the  general  assembly  commanded  that  the  attack  should  be  repeated 
the  next  year.  This  spirit  of  ruthless  vengeance  continued  for  some 
years,  and  it  was  sternly  insisted  that  no  peace  should  be  concluded  with 
the  Indians.  It  was  not  till  1632,  ten  years  after  the  massacre,  that  a 
treaty  of  .peace  was  sanctioned. 

In  April,  1644,  the  Indians,  who  had  always  cherished  a  hatred  to- 
ward the  whites,  notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  peace,  suddenly  showed 
open  hostility,  and  attempted  another  massacre  of  the  invaders  of  their 
country.  Opechancanough  had  never  abandoned  his  hopes  of  extermi- 
nating the  invaders  of  his  domain,  and  though  now  very  old,  he  retained 
great  influence  over  all  the  tribes  of  Virginia.  Aggravated  by  the  en- 
croachments of  Governor  Harvey,  or  encouraged  by  the  dissensions  of 


CAPTURE  AND  DEATH  OF  OPECHANCANOUGH.  183 

the  colonists,  he  resolved  to  make  another  attempt  to  destroy  the  colony. 
Large  numbers  of  the  Indian  warriors  were  assembled,  and  without 
warning  made  a  sudden  and  concerted  attack  on  the  frontier  settle- 
ments. Again  the  settlers  were  unprepared,  the  long  period  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  Indians  had  ventured  any  attack  upon  a  number  of 
whites  lulling  them  into  a  sense  of  security.  With  their  usual  ferocity 
they  murdered  men,  women,  and  children  alike,  and  upwards  of  three 
hundred  whites  fell  victims  to  their  vengeance.  But  when  they  had 
accomplished  thus  much,  alarmed  at  their  own  rashness,  or  satisfied  for 
the  time  with  their  achievements,  as  usual  with  the  Indians,  they  retired 
again  to  the  wilderness.  Had  they  persisted  in  their  bloody  work,  they 
might  have  inflicted  a  more  terrible  blow  on  the  colony  before  an  organ- 
ized resistance  could  have  checked  their  savage  career.  Their  retreat 
enabled  the  English  to  take  measures  not  only  for  defence,  but  for  offen- 
sive war,  and  they  were  soon  pursued  by  a  force  with  which  they  did 
not  dare  to  contend.  The  aged  Opechancanough  was  made  prisoner 
and  taken  to  Jamestown.  His  commanding  form,  which  from  the  first 
planting  of  the  colony  had  been  conspicuous  among  the  warriors  of  his 
race,  was  now  bent  with  age  and  hardships,  and  he  was  nearly  blind. 
Haughty  and  implacable  in  his  hatred,  he  still  retained  much  of  the 
spirit  of  his  earlier  years,  and  indignantly  protested  against  being  ex- 
hibited to  the  curious  yisitors  who  came  to  see  him.  He  was  kindly 
treated,  in  the  main,  but  one  of  his  guards,  for  some  real  or  fancied 
affront,  basely  shot  him  in  the  back.  Languishing  for  a  time  from  the 
effects  of  the  wound,  he  at  length  died,  at  the  age,  as  was  supposed, 
of  nearly  a  hundred  years.  His  death  seemed  to  destroy  the  courage 
of  the  natives,  and  a  peace  was  soon  established,  and  endured  for  a 
long  period. 


XIX. 

CHARACTER    OF   THE   VIRGINIA    COLONISTS. 

CONDITION    IN    164.8. 


;HE  character  of  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia  has  been 
already  mentioned.  A  few  of  them  were  adventurous 
spirits  warmly  enlisted  in  the  enterprise  of  founding  a 
colony  in  the  new  world;  some  were  gentlemen  "in 
reduced  circumstances,"  who  found  it  necessary  to  seek 
the  smiles  of  fortune  in  a  new  field;  others  were  scions 
of  good  families  who  on  account  of  disreputable  con- 
duct or  offences  were  compelled  to  leave  their  native 
land.  Many  were  needy  adventurers  of  all  sorts,  who  expected  to  find 
wealth  with  very  little  effort.  The  whole  company  were  sent  out  as 
a  commercial  venture.  They  were  not  animated  by  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple like  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  of  New  England,  and  in  their 
character  and  habits  they  were  like  those  classes  in  England  from 
which  they  came,  easy-going  supporters  of  the  Church  of  England, 
not  very  moral,  and  fond  of  sports  and  good  living. 

Those  who  came  afterwards  were  generally  of  a  better  sort  than  the 
earlier  settlers,  though  they  came  from  similar  motives  and  with  similar 
habits.  They  were  loyal  supporters  of  the  king,  and  admirers  of  rank 
and  titles;  not  a  few  of  them  were  knights,  or  connected  with  the  nobil- 
ity. From  political  more  than  religious  motives  they  were  stanch  sup- 
porters of  the  Church  of  England.  Recollections  of  the  persecutions 
of  "  bloody  Mary,"  the  Spanish  armada,  and  the  gunpowder  plot,  made 
them  earnest  haters  of  papists,  and  the  charter  of  the  colony  required 
that  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  should  be  taken  for  the 

184 


SPIRIT  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  ^5 

purpose  of  guarding  against  the  "  superstitions  of  the  Church  of  Rome." 
In  a  less  degree  they  were  intolerant  towards  dissenters;  and  when  a 
few  Puritans,  who  had  come  among  the  later  emigrants,  had  invited 
some  ministers  from  Massachusetts  to  come  and  preach  to  them,  these 
missionaries  were  ordered  to  leave  the  colony.  And  when  Puritanism 
began  to  develop  itself  among  some  of  the  clergy,  ministers  were 
ordered  to  conform  themselves  in  all  things  according  to  the  canons 
of  the  Church  of  England.  Other  measures  were  adopted  against  those 
inclined  to  "Independency,"  and  a  considerable  number  of  non-conformists 
left  Virginia  in  consequence.  An  act  of  the  assembly  also  banished  all 
Quakers,  and  provided  that  their  return  should  be  regarded  as  felony. 
Otherwise  there  was  considerable  religious  freedom  of  an  undemonstra- 
tive sort,  and  there  was  very  little  bigotry  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
established  church.  A  due  regard  for  religious  observances  -was  enforced 
by  a  law  requiring  all  persons  to  attend  church.  But  that  neither  clergy 
nor  laymen  were  very  strict  in  their  religion  or  morals  is  shown  by 
another  act,  which  directed  that  ministers  should  not  "  give  themselves  to 
excess  in  drinking,  or  riot,  spending  their  time  idly  by  day  or  night, 
playing  at  dice,  cards,  or  any  other  unlawful  game." 

As  the  affairs  of  the  colony  prospered,  and  the.  planters  obtained  a 
competence,  they  lived  freely,  and  were  much  given  to  hospitality. 
With  none  of  the  sternness  of  the  New  England  Puritans,  they  enjoyed 
life,  and  were  deterred  by  no  conscientious  scruples  from  indulging  in 
sports  and  merry-makings. 

Although  stanch  loyalists,  they  showed  a  spirit  of  independence,  and 
stoutly  asserted  and  maintained  their  rights.  They  claimed  the  right  to 
manage  their  own  affairs  so  long  as  they  did  nothing  in  conflict  with 
the  laws  of  England  and  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  They  established 
a  representative  assembly,  the  first  in  America,  on  the  basis  of  almost 
universal  suffrage;  and  they  boldly  denied  to  the  governor  the  right  to 
levy  any  tax  without  the  concurrence  of  the  assembly.  The  spirit  of 
freedom  which  animated  them  descended  to  succeeding  generations, 
and  was  a  potent  force  in  achieving  the  independence  of  the  colonies. 

In  1648  there  were  about  fifteen  thousand  English  settlers  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  three  hundred  African  slaves.  Notwithstanding  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  early  days,  and  the  two  massacres,  the  condition  of  the 

NO.  v.  24 


1 86  CHARACTER   OF  THE   VIRGINIA    COLONISTS. 

colony  was  at  this  period  prosperous  and  very  encouraging.  Thousands 
of  acres  had  been  cleared  and  planted,  and  in  the  fruitful  soil  was 
found  wealth  more  certain  than  the  first  uneasy  settlers  had  hoped  to 
find  in  mines  of  precious  metals.  There  were  twenty  thousand  cattle, 
and  the  planters  made  plenty  of  butter  and  cheese.  Horses  were  not 
yet  very  numerous,  numbering  only  about  two  hundred,  but  attention 
was  now  given  to  the  rearing  of  them,  with  great  care  for  the  excel- 
lence of  the  breed.  Subsequently  the  Virginia  horses  were  of  marked 
superiority,  and  the  planters  were  famous  horsemen.  Three  thousand 
sheep  and  five  thousand  goats  were  among  the  live-stock  possessions  of 
the  colonists,  and  swine  were  not  only  raised  on  the  plantations,  but  ran 
wild  in  the  forest,  while  the  farm-yards  were  well  filled  with  poultry. 
Deer  were  abundant  in  the  woods,  and  with  other  smaller  animals,  and 
wild  turkeys,  quail,  and  waterfowl,  furnished  an  ample  supply  of  game, 
-while  the  rivers  and  bay  supplied  some  thirty  varieties  of  fish. 

To  garnish  this  abundance  of  necessaries  and  luxuries,  the  settlers 
also  cultivated  a  good  supply  of  vegetables,  such  as  potatoes,  asparagus, 
peas,  beans,  carrots,  and  other  roots,  and  a  variety  of  garden  herbs  and 
medicinal  flowers,  and  fifteen  kinds  of  fruits,  which  were  said  to  be 
"  comparable  to  those  of  Italy."  One  planter  made  twenty  butts  of 
excellent  cider  from  apples  of  his  own  orchard,  and  another  had  for 
several  years  made  forty  or  fifty  butts  of  perry  from  pears  of  his  own 
raising.  Governor  Berkeley  had  fifteen  hundred  fruit  trees  in  his  or- 
chard, besides  his  apricots,  peaches,  and  quinces.  Maize,  or  Indian 
corn,  for  which  the  settlers  were  indebted  to  the  natives,  was  the  prin- 
cipal production,  except  tobacco,  yielding  five  hundred-fold,  and  fur- 
nishing their  chief  supply  of  bread.  Wheat,  oats,  and  barley  were  also 
sown,  and  yielded  abundantly.  Bees,  wild  and  domestic,  supplied  honey 
and  wax.  Thus  the  colonists  found  themselves  at  last  in  a  land  of 
plenty ;  it  was  "the  best  poor  man's  country  in  the  world." 

For  commerce,  tobacco  was  raised  in  large  quantities,  so  that  the 
price  became  very  much  reduced.  The  Virginia  tobacco  was  in  high 
esteem  in  England,  and  it  brought,  in  return,  the  various  manufactures 
of  which  the  colony  stood  in  need.  The  yield  was  very  large;  one 
man  could  plant  and  cultivate  enough  to  make  two  thousand  pounds, 
besides  sufficient  corn  and  vegetables  for  his  own  support.  A  little 


A    VIRGINIA   GENTLEMAN. 


187 


indigo  was  made  from  the  leaves  of  a  small  tree,  and  great  hopes  were 
entertained  that  Virginia  would  soon  supply  Christendom  with  this  ar- 
ticle. Pitch  and  tar  were  also  made  for  export,  and  the  forests  furnished 
excellent  lumber  for  the  same  purpose.  Mulberry  trees  abounded,  and 
it  was  confidently  believed  that  silk  would  be  produced  in  Virginia,  as 
well  as  in  France.  The  colony  was  therefore  well  supplied  with  actual 
and  prospective  articles  of  commerce,  and  a  considerable  trade  had 
already  grown  up  between  it  and  the  mother  country.  Upwards  of 
thirty  vessels  at  this  time  came  annually  to  Jamestown  to  trade,  and 
many  of  them  were  repaired  and  provisioned  here.  At  Christmas,  in 
1647,  there  were  in  the  James  River  ten  vessels  from  London,  two  from 
Bristol,  twelve  from  Holland,  and  seven  from  New  England. 

Under  such  circumstances  many  of  the  colonists  grew  to  be  com- 
paratively wealthy.  Liberal  grants  of  land  had  been  made  to  them, 
and  enterprise  was  amply  rewarded  by  its  cultivation.  As  an  instance 
of  the  style  in  which  the  Virginia  gentleman  lived  even  at  that  early 
day,  it  is  said  that  K  Captain  Matthews,  an  old  planter  of  above  thirty 
years'  standing,  had  a  fine  house,  sowed  much  hemp  and  flax,  and  had 
it  spun;  he  kept  weavers,  and  had  a  tannery  where  leather  was  dressed; 
and  had  eight  shoemakers  at  work;  had  forty  negro  servants,  whom  he 
brought  up  to  mechanical  trades;  he  sold  large  crops  of  wheat  and 
barley.  The  wheat  he  sold  for  four  shillings  a  bushel.  He  also  supplied 
vessels  trading  in  Virginia  with  beef.  He  had  plenty  of  cows,  a  fine 
dairy,  a  large  number  of  hogs  and  poultry.  He  kept  a  good  house, 
lived  bravely,  and  was  a  true  lover  of  Virginia." 

After  the  importation  of  wives  for  the  settlers,  and  the  accession  of 
married  men  among  the  later  emigrants,  there  was  a  goodly  number  of 
children  in  the  colony,  for  which  blessings  the  assembly  on  one  occa- 
sion expressed  devout  thanks.  But  no  very  ample  provision  was  made 
for  the  education  of  the  young.  One  free  school  had  been  endowed,  lib- 
erally for  the  times,  and  there  were  a  few  other  schools;  but  the  Virginia 
colonists  were  not  so  careful  to  provide  for  the  instruction  of  the  young 
as  were  the  Puritans  of  New  England.  At  a  later  period  than  that  here 
referred  to  Sir  William  Berkeley  said,  "  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free 
schools,  nor  printing  (in  Virginia),  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have,  these 
hundred  years;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience,  and  heresy,  and 


1 88  CHARACTER   OF  THE   VIRGINIA    COLONISTS. 

sects,  into  the  world;  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and  libels  against 
the  best  government.     God  keep  us  from  both." 

From  a  very  early  date  in  the  history  of  the  colony  there  was  some 
talk  among  the  members  of  the  Company  in  England,  and  the  church 
dignitaries,  about  establishing  a  "  college  "  for  the  education  of  Indian 
youth,  that  they  might  become  missionaries  for  the  conversion  of  their 
•race,  but  the  project  was  not  carried  into  effect.  Some  good  men 
labored  for  the  conversion  of  such  Indians  as  they  could  reach,  and 
with  partial  success;  but  the  subjects  generally  were  not  very  docile, 
and  the  labor  was  not  very  encouraging.  Among  those  who  engaged 
in  this  good  work  was  Mr.  Thorpe,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, who  won  the  confidence  of  the  natives  by  his  uniform  kindness, 
and,  having  secured  their  good-will,  began  to  instruct  them  in  the  com- 
mon arts  of  civilized  life,  and  to  impart  to  them  some  idea  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  The  Indians  were  freely  admitted  to  his  house,  and  often 
sat  at  his  table,  and  slept  before  his  fire.  A  few  of  them  became  his 
stanch  friends,  and  were  considered  "converted;"  but  to  most  of  the 
treacherous  savages  his  kindness  was  of  little  account,  and  when  they 
resolved  upon  the  destruction  of  the  English  he  was  one  of  the  earliest 
victims. 


XX. 


VIRGINIA    UNDER    THE    COMMONWEALTH. 


HE  plan  of  this  work  did  not  contemplate  any  connected 
narrative  of  events  in  Virginia  beyond  the  early  period 
of  which  some  account  has  already  been  given;  but 
there  are  a  few  later  events  which  may  well  be  recounted 
to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  colonists. 

When  the  people  of  England  rose  against  the  usur- 
pations and  tyranny  of  Charles  I.,  and  brought  that 
monarch  to  the  block,  the  colonists  of  Virginia  con- 
tinued loyal  to  the  crown,  and  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Long 
Parliament  and  the  Commonwealth.  The  loyalty  of  Virginia,  when 
everywhere  else  his  friends  were  few,  was  duly  appreciated  by  the  son 
of  the  fallen  king  and  his  supporters,  and  from  his  poor  court  in  Breda 
he  sent  to  Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  governor,  a  new  commission 
confirming  the  powers  granted  by  his  father.  Berkeley  was  a  most  ear- 
nest loyalist,  and  the  great  majority  of  the  colonists,  not  having  experi- 
enced the  ills  under  \vhich  their  countrymen  in  the  mother  country  had 
suffered,  remained  true  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Stuarts,  even  when  they 
seemed  most  hopeless.  The  new  commission  confirmed  governor  and 
people  in  their  loyal  prepossessions. 

As  the  loyalty  of  Virginia  won  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the 
royal  part}-,  it  excited  the  displeasure  of  Parliament.  Measures  were 
adopted  to  secure  to  the  mother  country  all  the  advantages  of  commerce 
with  the  colonies,  and  a  powerful  fleet  of  armed  vessels,  carrying  also  a 
considerable  land  force,  was  fitted  out  in  1651,  under  the  command  of 

189 


190 


VIRGINIA   UNDER   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 


Sir  George  Ayscue,  with  instructions  to  reduce  all  refractory  colonies  to 
subjection.  The  orders  were  stern  and  decided.  If  the  rebellious  col- 
onists would  immediately  submit,  favorable  terms  should  be  extended  to 
them ;  but  if  they  should  resist,  the  terrors  of  war  should  be  visited  upon 
them.  Having  reduced  Antigua  and  the  Barbadoes  to  subjection,  Ayscue, 
who  was  a  distinguished  naval  commander,  sailed  for  Virginia,  where  he 
anticipated  no  serious  resistance. 

Berkeley,  however,  having  been  informed  of  this  expedition,  deter- 
mined to  show  his  loyalty  to  the  prince  and  his  hatred  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. Jamestown  was  fortified,  and  a  large  part  of  the  men  who 
were  able  to  bear  arms,  and  could  be  depended  upon,  were  called  to 
its  defence.  At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Parliamentary  force  in 
James  River  it  so  happened  that  several  Dutch  ships  were  lying  at 
Jamestown,  and  as  England  was  then  at  war  with  Holland,  the  com- 
manders and  crews  of  these  ships  knew  that  they  would  be  made  cap- 
tives should  the  force  of  the  Commonwealth  triumph,  and  their  rich 
cargoes  would  be  confiscated.  They  therefore  readily  assented  to  Berke- 
ley's proposal  that  they  should  unite  with  the  colonists  in  resisting  the 
coming  fleet.  The  ships  were  accordingly  moored  in  line  along  the 
peninsula,  and  their  cargoes  carried  on  shore.  Select  crews  were  placed 
on  board  each  ship,  and  with  guns  heavily  charged  they  presented  their 
broadsides  to  the  water  approaches  to  the  town. 

When  Captain  Dennis,  who  commanded  the  Parliamentary  force,  saw 
this  preparation  for  resistance,  he  was  greatly  disappointed  in  his  expec- 
tations of  a  ready  submission  on  the  part  of  the  colony.  He  hesitated 
making  an  attack,  and  resorted  to  negotiations  as  a  better  means  of 
securing  the  object  of  the  expedition  than  a  bloody  and  doubtful  con- 
flict. He  had,  moreover,  in  his  hands  the  means  of  appealing  to  the 
private  interests  of  some  of  the  council,  and  thus  dividing  the  colonial 
authorities.  On  board  of  some  of  the  English  ships  there  was  a  large 
quantity  of  goods  belonging  to  two  members  of  the  council;  and  after 
a  number  of  messages  had  passed  between  Captain  Dennis  and  the  colo- 
nial government,  he  found  means  to  convey  to  these  members  intelli- 
gence concerning  their  goods,  and  intimated  to  them  that  the  fate  of 
their  property  depended  upon  their  conduct  in  the  pending  negotiations. 
By  this  shrewd  move  Captain  Dennis  was  pretty  sure  to  have  two  advo- 


LIBERAL    CONCESSIONS.  Io,i 

cates  of  a  pacific  settlement  of  difficulties  in  the  council.  Puplic  affairs 
are  very  apt  to  assume  a  new  aspect  when  viewed  through  the  spec- 
tacles of  self-interest,  and  the  councillors  in  question  became  strenuous 
opponents  of  resistance,  and  argued  that  it  would  be  useless  to  contend 
with  the  power  of  England,  which  was  now  wielded  by  the  Common- 
wealth, and  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  submit  while  they  could  obtain 
favorable  terms,  than  to  wait  till  they  were  forced  to  yield  after  a  fruit- 
less contest.  These  views  prevailed  with  other  members  of  the  council, 
and  the  governor  found  himself  overruled  by  a  majority.  The  negotia- 
tions proceeded,  and  resulted  in  a  treaty  signed  on  the  i2th  of  March, 
1652,  by  which  the  most  liberal  terms  were  secured  for  the  colony,  hon- 
orable alike  to  the  colonists  and  to  the  officers  of  the  Commonwealth. 

By  this  treaty  the  colony  was  to  remain  in  obedience  and  subjection 
to  the  Commonwealth,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  stipulated  that  this 
submission  should  be  considered  a  voluntary  thing,  and  not  imposed 
upon  them  by  force  of  arms.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  agreed  that 
the  colonists  were  to  enjoy  all  the  "  privileges  and  freedomes "  of  the 
most  favored  subjects  of  the  English  government.  The  colonial  assem- 
bly was  to  meet  as  before,  and  might  enact  laws,  provided  only  that 
they  were  not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the  mother  country.  A  gen- 
eral amnesty  for  acts,  words,  or  writings  against  Parliament  was  granted; 
and  should  any  of  the  inhabitants  not  choose  to  submit  to  the  Common- 
wealth, they  were  allowed  a  year  to  remove  with  their  effects  out  of 
Virginia.  The  existing  boundaries  of  Virginia  were  guaranteed,  former 
patents  were  confirmed,  and  the  colonists  were  to  be  allowed  to  trade 
with  all  nations.  No  taxes  were  to  be  levied  upon  them  except  by 
consent  of  the  assembly,  and  other  minor  privileges  and  exemptions 
•were  allowed.  But  the  most  remarkable  concession,  considering  the 
dislike  of  the  Parliamentary  party. for  the  Church  of  England,  was  the 
stipulation  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  should  continue  to  be  used 
for  one  year  in  those  parishes  that  desired  it,  provided  only  that  the  parts 
recognizing  the  king  and  the  royal  government  should  be  omitted  in 
public  worship. 

Another  remarkable  provision  in  the  treaty  was  the  leniency  and  con- 
sideration conceded  to  Sir  William  Berkeley,  who  was  known  as  a  stanch 
supporter  of  the  late  king,  and  ardent  friend  of  his  son.  Both  he  and 


I92  VIRGINIA   UNDER   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

his  council  were  exempted  for  one  year  from  taking  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  Commonwealth,  and  from  censure  for  speaking  well  of  the 
king.  He  was  even  permitted  to  send  a  report  of  his  proceedings  to 
the  sovereign  whom  he  still  recognized.  His  lands  and  other  property 
were  secured  to  him,  and  he  was  allowed  a  year  to  provide  a  ship  and 
transport  himself  and  his  effects  to  any  part  of  the  world  he  might  choose ; 
and  if  he  went  to  England,  he  was  to  be  allowed  six  months  "  to  fol- 
low his  occasions "  after  his  arrival. 

These  favorable  terms,  which  of  course  were  not  conceded  except 
on  the  firm  demands  of  the  colonists,  show  the  spirit  of  freedom  and 
independence  which  animated  the  people  even  in  those  early  days  of 
Virginia.  The  liberties  and  privileges  of  the  people  were  guaranteed, 
and  all  that  was  required  of  them  was  allegiance  to  the  Commonwealth 
and  a  partial  or  future  discontinuance  of  forms  of  worship.  The  colony 
thus  continued  to  enjoy  everything  essential  to  its  welfare,  and  prospered 
in  a  greater  degree  than  before.  The  terms  of  the  treaty  were  so  propi- 
tious that  scarcely  any  animosity  was  excited,  and  so  favorably  disposed 
were  the  colonists  to  the  Commonwealth  that,  in  the  April  following, 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  Parliament,  Richard  Bennett,  who  had  signed 
the  treaty  in  behalf  of  the  Commonwealth,  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
governor,  and  until  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  the  governor  was  elected 
by  the  colonial  assembly,  and  not  appointed  by  Parliament  or  the  Pro- 
tector. 

At  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  in  England  there  was  great 
rejoicing  among  the  numerous  cavaliers  who  had  come  to  Virginia, 
\vhich  was  foolishly  shared  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  who  were  lovers 
of  royalty  and  haters  of  "round-heads"  and  republicans.  Under  the  Com- 
monwealth they  had  enjoyed  great  freedom  and  prosperity  unexampled 
in  any  previous  period.  Forgetting  this,  they  hailed  with  joy  the  acces- 
sion of  a  monarch  who  could  not  possibly  bring  to  them  any  new  ben- 
efits, and  from  whom,  directly  or  indirectly,  soon  came  oppression,  fol- 
lowed by  discord  and  civil  war. 


XXI. 

ROYALIST  OPPRESSION.-BACON'S   REBELLION. 


'  HEN  Charles  II.  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  he  sent 
to  his  loyal  supporter,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  a  new  com- 
mission as  governor.  Berkeley,  who  had  not  left  Virginia, 
already  held  the  office,  having  been  elected  about  the 
time  that  Richard  Cromwell,  unable  to  wield  the  power 
which  his  father  had  left  to  him,  retired  from  the  cares 
1  of  government,  and  the  hopes  of  the  monarchists  were 
revived.  The  liberal  spirit  in  which  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  had  for  some  years  been  conducted,  upon  the  resumption  of 
power  by  Berkeley  soon  gave  place  to  a  more  arbitrary  administration 
and  laws.  When  the  monarchy  was  re-established  in  England,  the  cav- 
aliers and  other  loyalists  who  composed  the  colonial  assembly  made 
haste  to  expurgate  from  the  laws  everything  derogatory  to  monarchical 
government,  or  tolerating  dissent  from  the  Church  of  England.  Though 
all  this  was  hailed  with  joy  by  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  they 
soon  began  to  realize  that  they  did  not  enjoy  the  privileges  or  the 
prosperity  which  had  been  assured  to  them  under  the  Commonwealth. 
They  soon  experienced  the  effects  of  the  change  of  government  more 
severely  when  the  king  and  parliament  adopted  oppressive  measures 
towards  all  the  colonies.  The  "  navigation  laws"  and  other  enactments 
for  the  supposed  benefit  of  the  mother  country,  and  in  the  interest  of 
the  crown,  formed  a  complete  system  of  commercial  oppression  which 
soon  affected  the  prosperity  of  the  Virginia  colonists. 

The  governor  and  his  cavalier  friends  were  such  ardent  admirers  of 
NO,  v.  25  193 


ROYALIST  OPPRESSION. 

royalty  that  they  approved  of  all  that  received  the  sanction  of  the  king, 
and  imitated  the  arbitrary  and  often  vindictive  spirit  with  which  author- 
ity was  exercised  in  the  mother  country.  But  the  assembly,  seeing  the 
evil  effects  of  the  oppressive  laws,  commissioned  Berkeley,  on  his  visit 
to  England,  to  attend  specially  to  their  interests,  and  endeavor  to  procure 
more  favorable  laws.  The  governor,  however,  enjoyed  the  gayeties  of 
the  court  and  the  smiles  of  royalty,  and  found  time,  during  a  year  and 
a  half  that  he  was  absent  from  Virginia,  only  to  secure  some  valuable 
privileges  for  himself,  but  nothing  for  the  relief  of  the  colony. 

The  price  of  tobacco  had  fallen  so  low  that  the  planters  were  threat- 
ened with  ruin,  and  other  causes  of  discontent  were  increasing  in  num- 
ber and  weight.  Even  those  who  had  rejoiced  at  the  restoration  of  a 
king  and  a  royal  governor  felt  that  their  joy  was  only  a  mockery,  and 
that  the  hopes  in  which  they  had  indulged  were  already  crushed  by 
oppression.  But  there  were  now  in  the  colony  many  others  who  had 
no  love  for  royalty  or  established  church,  and  who  were  disposed  to 
resist  the  oppressor.  Not  a  few  of  Cromwell's  old  soldiers  had  come 
over  to  Virginia  when  the  civil  wars  subsided,  and  they  had  no  scru- 
ples about  opposing  the  king  or  his  subservient  parliament.  They 
fanned  the  flames  of  discontent,  and  encouraged  the  spirit  of  rebellion. 
Secretly  and  with  skill  a  formidable  insurrection  was  organized,  designed 
to  overthrow  the  existing  colonial  government,  and  to  resist  the  author- 
ity of  the  king  whom  it  so  faithfully  represented.  The  movement  was 
planned  and  carried  on  so  privately  that  not  a  hint  of  its  design  was 
received  by  the  authorities;  and  civil  war  would  have  been  precipitated 
upon  the  colony  had  not  one  of  the  conspirators,  moved  by  remorse  or 
cowardice,  on  the  evening  preceding  the  day  intended  for  the  rising, 
revealed  the  plot.  Berkeley  at  once  took  decided  measures  to  crush 
the  proposed  insurrection.  He  privately  ordered  a  large  force  of  militia 
to  meet  at  the  place  appointed  for  the  rendezvous  of  the  insurgents 
before  the  time  when  they  were  to  assemble.  His  directions  were 
obeyed,  and  when  the  conspirators  appeared  they  were  arrested  and 
disarmed.  All  those  who  came  first  were  thus  seized;  but  soon  the 
alarm  spread,  and  many  turned  back  and  escaped.  Four  of  those  who 
were  supposed  to  be  among  the  instigators  of  the  insurrection  were 
speedily  hung,  and  the  rebellion  was  nipped  in  the  bud. 


THE  ASSEMBLY  SEEKS  REDRESS. 

But  the  grievances  of  the  colonists  were  by  no  means  ended.  They 
continued,  however,  to  bear  them  as  best  they  might,  till  an  act  of 
Charles  II.  threatened  them  with  new  and  untold  evils.  In  1669,  that 
unworthy  monarch,  regardless  of  former  grants  and  the  rights  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  colonists,  exercised  what  he  claimed  as  his  prerogative, 
and  gave  to  two  of  his  favorites  the  whole  of  Virginia,  land  and  water, 
forest  and  plantation,  for  the  full  period  of  thirty-one  years.  These  two 
men  were  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  this  large  domain,  now  occupied  by 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  who  under  grants  and  charters  had  occu- 
pied the  land,  and  expended  the  toil  of  years  in  making  it  fruitful. 
They  could  impose  rents,  duties,  tithes,  services,  or  what  they  pleased 
upon  the  people,  whose  burdens  had  previously  been  light  and  such 
only  as  their  own  representatives  approved.  Great  was  the  astonish- 
ment and  alarm  among  all  classes  of  the  colonists  when  this  grant  was 
promulgated.  Even  the  most  loyal  supporters  of  the  king  felt  ag- 
grieved; for,  under  the  letters-patent  issued  to  the  favorites,  they  were 
subject  to  the  same  oppression  as  the  most  determined  opponent  of 
royalty,  and  could  only  escape  by  favor,  of  which  they  were  by  no 
means  sure. 

The  assembly  immediately  resolved  to  seek  redress,  and  sent  three 
commissioners  to  England  to  implore  the  king  to  revoke  his  grant,  or, 
failing  in  that,  to  attempt  to  effect  a  compromise  with  Culpeper  and 
Arlington,  the  favored  grantees.  But  the  mission  was  a  failure; 
Charles  II.  thought  more  of  his  two  favorites  than  of  forty  thousand  of 
his  subjects,  and  refused  to  withdraw  his  letters-patent.  With  the  pat- 
entees the  commissioners  were  scarcely  more  successful;  for,  after  pro- 
tracted negotiations,  they  obtained  terms  little  favorable  to  the  colonists. 
Berkeley,  who  for  many  years  had  been  governor,  and  whom  the 
colonists  had  delighted  to  honor,  exhibited  his  true  character  as  a  sub- 
servient courtier,  and  took  sides  in  this,  as  in  all  other  oppressive  meas- 
ures, with  the  king  and  parliament.  He  drew  from  the  people  a 
princely  revenue  for  his  private  benefit,  and  was  ready  to  enforce  any 
other  exactions  which  royalty  or  its  favorites  should  demand.  He  was 
a  faithful  follower  and  imitator  of  his  royal  master  in  all  but  his  volup- 
tuous life,  though  he  possessed  some  traits  that  elevated  him  far  above 
the  false  king.  Ever  since  the  restoration  and  his  appointment  by 


196  ROTALIST  OPPRESSION. 

royal  commission,  he  had  been  always  on  the  side  of  the  oppressor,  and 
had  gradually  forfeited  the  respect  with  which  he  had  formerly  been 
regarded.  Nor  was  the  assembly  now  what  it  had  formerly  been.  It 
was  composed  chiefly  of  landholders  and  royalists,  and  for  some  years 
had  perpetuated  its  existence  by  adjournment,  so  that  no  new  election 
had  taken  place.  .  The  institutions  of  Virginia  had  been  essentially 
changed,  and  the  colonists  no  longer  enjoyed  the  republican  privileges 
which  had  formerly  been  secured  to  them,  nor  the  rights  and  immuni- 
ties which  they  claimed  as  English  freemen.  They  now  found  them- 
selves not  only  the  victims  of  parliamentary  oppression,  but  the  subjects 
of  royal  insult  and  wrong,  while  their  immediate  rulers  sympathized  with 
the  oppressor. 

With  such  grievances  now  long  continued,  and  in  danger  of  losing 
the  reward  of  all  their  toil  under  the  infamous  grant  to  the  king's  favor- 
ites, it  is  not  strange  that  many  of  the  colonists  were  ripe  for  rebellion. 
In  the  midst  of  their  troubles  they  had  yet  another  cause  of  complaint, 
which  ultimately  led  to  open  resistance  to  the  colonial  government. 
The  Indians  had  long  been  practising  hostilities  on  exposed  plantations, 
and  on  the  upper  streams  of  the  James  and  York  Rivers  they  were  suffi- 
ciently numerous  and  unfriendly  to  be  dangerous.  Berkeley  promised 
to  send  a  force  against  them,  but  forgot  his  promise.  A  volunteer  force, 
organized  and  ready  to  march  against  the  treacherous  enemy,  was  dis- 
banded by  his  orders  without  good  cause.  Meanwhile  planters  and 
their  families  were  exposed  to  the  terrible  warfare  of  the  savages,  and 
many  of  them  were  murdered  or  carried  away  to  be  tortured  as  captives. 

Finding  that  they  could  receive  no  protection  from  the  governor, 
the  people  resolved  to  protect  themselves.  A  large  number  assem- 
bled, and  selected  as  their  leader  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Jr.,  a  sufferer  at 
the  hands  of  the  Indians,  who  had  recently  treacherously  murdered  his 
overseer  and  a  favorite  servant.  Bacon  was  a  young  man  of  good 
parentage,  born  in  Virginia,  and  heir  to  a  valuable  estate.  He  had  been 
well  educated,  and  had  passed  several  years  in  London,  where,  in  the 
inns  of  court,  he  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  law.  On  his  return  to 
Virginia,  his  character  and  acquirements  made  him  a  man  of  mark,  and 
he  soon  became  a  prominent  member  of  the  council.  "  His  figure  was 
graceful  and  commanding;  his  countenance  was  remarkable  for  manly 


NATHANIEL   BACON. 

beauty  and  for  engaging  expression;  his  manners  were  easy  and  nat- 
ural, betraying  neither  the  hauteur  of  the  professed  aristocrat  nor  the 
coarseness  of  the  plebeian.  Nature  had  gifted  him  with  intellectual 
endowments  of  the  highest  order.  His  mind  was  capacious,  yet  exact; 
full  of  native  energy,  yet  highly  cultured  by  well-applied  art.  He  was 
an  orator  of  uncommon  power.  His  eloquence  appears  to  have  been  of 
that  character,  at  once  impassioned  and  convincing,  which  carries  away 
alike  the  feelings  and  the  reason  of  the  auditors,  and  renders  them  sub- 
servient to  the  speaker's  will.  He  possessed  dauntless  courage,  and  he 
feared  not  to  encounter  any  danger  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  of 


innocence."  * 


Such  a  man  was  worthy  to  lead  a  good  cause,  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  he  accepted  the  position  from  motives  of  pure  patriotism 
and  philanthropy.  His  social  and  political  position  was  such,  that  self- 
interest  would  have  prompted  him  not  only  to  abstain  from  rebellion 
against  existing  powers,  but  to  refrain  from  doing  anything  which  did 
not  receive  the  approval  of  the  government.  The  purpose  of  the  as- 
sembled people  was  to  march  against  the  savage  enemy  and  secure  the 
safety  which  the  colonial,  government  refused  to  afford.  But  it  was 
a  time  when  they  felt  more  keenly  than  ever  the  wrongs  they  had 
suffered,  and  with  his  impassioned  eloquence  Bacon  reviewed  the 
.grievances  visited  upon  them  by  king  and  parliament,  and  the  wrongs 
and  abuses  of  which  the  governor  and  assembly  were  guilty.  There 
was  ample  opportunity  for  a  fiery  orator  to  stir  the  feelings  of  his  audi- 
tors with  a. skilful  enumeration  of  the  evils  under  which  they  suffered. 
But  it  was  the  description  of  the  Indian  murders  and  outrages,  from 
which  a  selfish  and  unsympathizing  government  refused  protection,  that 
formed  the  climax  of  his  address,  and  that  made  the  excited  assembly 
pledge  each  other  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  till  the  savage  foe  was 
punished  and  their  own  safety  was  secured. 

That  Bacon  and  his  followers  did  not  contemplate  rebellion  against 
the  colonial  government  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  applied  to  Sir 
William  Berkeley,  "humbly  begging"  that  he  would  grant  a  commission 
to  Bacon  as  commander  of  the  forces  against  the  Indians.  It  was,  under 
the  circumstances,  a  moderate  and  reasonable  request;  but  the  governor, 

*  Howison  ;   Hist,  of  Virginia. 


I98  BACON'S  REBELLION. 

knowing  the  discontent  that  pervaded  the  people,  perhaps  feared  the 
organization  of  any  such  force,  and  he  hesitated  to  comply  with  the 
request.  But  the  case  was  urgent;  the  families  of  these  men  were  ex- 
posed to  the  attack  of  the  savages,  and  delay  was  dangerous.  Bacon 
therefore  resolved  to  march  against  the  Indians  without  a  commission, 
and  to  inflict  punishment  upon  them  before  they  committed  further  out- 
rages. He  moved  rapidly  to  the  upper  rivers,  and  falling  upon  the  sav- 
ages, he  defeated  them  with  a  heavy  loss.  Having  thus  accomplished 
his  purpose,  and  secured  safety  to  the  frontier  plantations,  for  a  time  at 
least,  he  returned  to  his  home. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  he  was  threatened  in  the  rear  by  another 
foe.  When  Berkeley  learned  that  Bacon  had  marched  with  his  vol- 
unteers against  the  Indians,  he  was  greatly  incensed  at  his  presumption 
in  daring  to  act  without  authority,  and,  declaring  .  him  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  be  rebels,  he  raised  an  armed  force,  and  marched  in  pursuit. 
But  Berkeley  found  that  his  rear  was  also  threatened,  and  before  he 
could  reach  the  volunteers  who  were  protecting  their  homes,  he  was 
called  back  to  Jamestown  by  the  symptoms  of  an  insurrection  there. 
The  people  throughout  the  colony  sympathized  with  Bacon  and  his  fol- 
lowers in  their  efforts  to  protect  themselves,  and  in  their  indignation 
against  the  governor  for  his  arbitrary  and  treacherous  refusal  of  a  com- 
mission to  the  young  leader,  they  remembered  more  keenly  their  own 
long-continued  grievances,  and  were  ready  to  rise  against  their  op- 
pressors. The  governor  and  council  became  alarmed  at  this  state  of 
things,  and  adopted  two  important  measures  to  quiet  the  threatening 
storm.  They  issued  orders  to  dismantle  the  forts  erected  to  enforce 
the  obnoxious  "  navigation  laws,"  and  writs  for  a  new  election  of  mem- 
bers of  the  general  assembly. 

These  measures  had  the  effect  to  restore  hope  to  the  people,  and 
consequently  calmed  the  excitement.  The  new  election  was  held,  and  a 
more  liberal  assembly  was  chosen.  The  old  freedom  of  suffrage  was 
exercised,  regardless  of  the  law  which,  since  the  restoration,  had 
restricted  the  right  of  voting  to  freeholders,  and  many  of  the  burgesses 
chosen  were  only  freemen,  and  did  not  possess  the  property  qualification 
required.  The  oppressive  laws  passed  by  the  last  assembly,  which  was 
known  as  the  Long  Assembly,  and  the  dangerous  powers  which  it  had 


RIGHTS  AND  PRIVILEGES  RESTORED. 


199 


usurped,  seemed  to  be  overthrown  by  the  result  of  this  election.  But 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  while  he  apparently  acquiesced,  was  by  no  means 
disposed  to  yield  what  he  considered  his  prerogative,  nor  to  smother 
his  resentment  and  desire  for  revenge  on  Bacon  for  his  alleged  insult 
to  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  governor. 

Bacon  was  elected  a  member  of  the  assembly  at  this  election,  and, 
as  he  approached  Jamestown  in  a  small  sloop,  to  attend  the  session  of 
that  body,  his  vessel  was  suddenly  brought  to  by  an  armed  ship,  and 
he  was  arrested  and  carried  a  prisoner  into  the  town.  When  the  as- 
sembly convened,  however,  there  were  such  manifestations  of  affection 
for  the  young  leader,  and  murmurings  at  the  governor's  arbitrary  con- 
duct towards  him,  that  Berkeley  did  not  dare  to  hold  him  in  confine- 
ment. With  a  pretence  of  clemency  he  released  the  prisoner,  reversed 
the  sentence  of  attainder  which  had  previously  been  pronounced  against 
him,  and  restored  him  to  his  place  in  the  council,  on  condition  that  he 
should  acknowledge  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  unwarrantable  prac- 
tices, should  beg  pardon  of  the  governor  for  his  offences  against  him, 
and  should  promise  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  government  in 
future,  pledging  his  whole  estate  for  his  good  conduct.  Before  Bacon 
would  consent  to  make  this  acknowledgment  and  give  his  parole,  he 
demanded  and  received  from  the  governor  a  promise  that  he  should 
have  a  regular  commission  as  commander  of  the  forces  against  the  In- 
dians. The  acknowledgment  was  then  made,  and  the  parole  given,  and 
the  assembly,  entering  upon  its  duties,  repealed  some  of  the  unjust  and 
oppressive  laws  of  the  Long  Assembly,  and  adopted  other  measures  to 
restore  to  the  colonists  their  former  privileges  and  contentment. 

This  reaction  in  favor  of  liberty  did  not  please  Berkeley,  and  he 
foolishly  determined  to  oppose  it.  Disregarding  his  promise,  ex- 
press or  implied,  he  positively  refused  to  give  Bacon  the  commission 
he  sought.  Indignant  at  this  breach  of  faith,  the  young  planter  de- 
nounced it  in  no  measured  terms.  Warned  by  his  uncle  that  some 
treachery  would  be  employed  against  him,  he  secretly  left  Jamestown. 
Berkeley,  knowing  that  the  people  sympathized  with  him,  feared  that 
this  move  boded  no  good,  and  immediately  issued  warrants  for  his  ap- 
prehension; but  Bacon  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  angry  governor, 
and  had  too  many  friends  to  permit  his  arrest,  even  had  he  remained. 


200  XACOJV'S  REBELLION. 

In  a  short  time,  numerous  planters  and  others,  indignant  at  the  treat- 
ment their  idol  had  received,  pledged  themselves  to  stand  by  him;  and 
organizing  a  force  of  four  hundred  armed  men,  Bacon  marched  them 
into  Jamestown,  and  forming  them  in  front  of  the  government  house,  he 
demanded  from  the  governor  and  council  the  commission  which  had 
been  promised.  Berkeley  was  a  high-spirited  old  cavalier,  and,  angry 
at  this  daring  act,  he  advanced  towards  the  followers  of  Bacon,  ex- 
claiming, "Here,  shoot  me  —  a  fair  mark;  'fore  God  —  shoot!"  But 
Bacon,  restraining  his  anger,  coolly  replied,  "No;  may  it  please  your 
honor,  we  will  not  hurt  a  hair  of  your  head,  nor  of  any  other  man's. 
We  have  come  for  a  commission  to  save  our  lives  from  the  Indians, 
which  you  have  so  often  promised;  and  now  we  will  have  it  before 
we  go." 

The  council  and  assembly  persuaded  the  haughty  and  angry  gov- 
ernor to  grant  the  commission,  and  thus  calm  the  excitement  that  was 
spreading  among  the  people.  As  soon  as  it  was  obtained,  Bacon  led 
his  force  away  from  Jamestown,  and  prepared  for  a  vigorous  prosecution 
of  war  -against  the  Indians,  which  was  still  the  sole  object  of  his  move- 
ments. He  had  no  sooner  gone,  however,  than  the  governor  and  council 
repented  of  their  act  of  justice,  and,  under  the  pretext  that  the  com- 
mission had  been  obtained  by  force  of  arms,  they  denounced  Bacon  as  a 
rebel,  and  prepared  to  wage  war  upon  him  as  such.  Berkeley  raised 
the  royal  standard,  and  called  upon  the  planters  to  rally  round  it,  and 
put  down  the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace.  But  the  planters  regarded 
Bacon  as  a  friend  and  a  brave  defender  of  their  homes  against  the  sav- 
ages, and  they  refused  to  bear  arms  against  a  patriot  who  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  his  life  in  their  defence. 

When  Bacon  received  intelligence  of  Berkeley's  movements,  he  halted 
in  .his  march  against  the  Indians.  He  was  justly  incensed  at  being 
thus  "hunted  in  the  rear  like  a  savage  animal,  while  he  was  pursuing 
the  wolves,  tigers,  and  bears  in  front,"  and  he  resolved  at  once  to 
compel  the  treacherous  governor  to  abide  by  his  promises,  and  adopt 
a  more  just  and  reasonable  course.  He  marched  rapidly  back  to  the 
place  where  Berkeley  had  undertaken  to  collect  a  force;  but  the  latter, 
finding  himself  so  feebly  supported,  withdrew,  and  with  a  few  adherents 
fled  across  the  bay  to  the  eastern  shore,  where  he  remained  until 


GOVERNOR  BERKELEY  AND  THE  INSURGENTS. 


REVOLUTIONARY  PROCEEDINGS.  2OI 

by  treachery  he  was  relieved  from  his  ignominious  position.  Even 
then  the  people  received  him  coldly,  and  would  not  rally  to  his 
support. 

Bacon  now  summoned  the  leading  men  of  the  colony  to  consider  the 
state  of  affairs,  and  to  take  measures  to  organize  a  government.  The 
flight  of  Berkeley,  it  was  urged,  was  equivalent  to  abdication.  More- 
over, the  ten  years  for  which  he  had  been  appointed  had  already  expired, 
and  the  people  had  a  right,  therefore,  to  take  the  government  into  their 
own  hands,  and  choose  his  successor.  These  views  were  generally 
approved,  and  Bacon,  with  four  other  members  of  the  council,  issued 
writs  for  the  election  of  a  new  assembly.  These  proceedings  were 
hailed  with  great  enthusiasm  by  the  people,  who  felt  that  they  had 
regained  the  liberties  of  which  they  had  been  deprived.  A  manifesto 
was  issued  by  the  assembled  leaders,  bearing  the  signatures  of  all  of 
them,  which,  from  the  character  and  influence  of  the  signers,  might  well 
be  considered  as  the  declaration  of  the  people.  This  paper,  after 
reciting  the  facts  which  led  to  the  existing  condition  of  the  country, — 
the  outrages  of  the  Indians,  the  raising  of  a  force  to  subdue  them,  the 
appointment  of  Bacon  as  commander,  and  Berkeley's  unjust  and  arbi- 
trary measures,  —  concludes  with  three  articles  of  agreement.  By  the 
first,  the  signers  pledged  themselves  at  all  times  to  join  with  Bacon 
against  the  common  foe,  the  Indians;  by  the  second,  they  promised  to 
use  all  proper  means  for  the  discovery  and  apprehension  of  those  who 
desired  to  beget  civil  war  by  opposing  him;  by  the  third,  after  reciting 
that  Berkeley  had  represented  to  the  king  that  the  people  of  Virginia 
were  rebellious,  and  requested  troops  to  keep  them  in  subjection,  they 
solemnly  engaged  to  oppose  such  troops  until  his  majesty  should  be 
informed  of  the  true  state  of  the  case  by  delegates  sent  to  England  in 
behalf  of  the  people. 

Having  taken  these  steps  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  government, 
Bacon  resumed  the  work  which  he  had  first  undertaken  —  a  campaign 
against  the  Indians.  Destroying  their  towns  and  plantations  as  he  ad- 
vanced, he  marched  to  the  region  where  it  was  understood  the  savages 
had  collected  in  formidable  numbers.  A  few  miles  below  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Richmond  is  a  stream  still  known  by  the  name  of  Bloody 
Run.  On  a  hill  overlooking  this  stream  the  Indians  had  collected  their 

NO.  vi.  26 


202  BACON'S  REBELLION. 

whole  force  of  warriors,  with  their  women  and  children,  in  a  large  pal- 
isaded enclosure  or  fort.  It  was  a  formidable  place  to  assault,  but, 
defended  by  few  if  any  fire-arms,  a  daring  attack  by  well-armed  whites 
could  carry  it,  and  Bacon  did  not  hesitate  to  make  the  attempt.  The 
hill  was  mounted,  the  palisades  were  torn  down,  and  the  Indians  were 
met  in  a  hand-to-hand  conflict.  The  savages  fought  desperately  for  a 
time,  and  the  carnage  was  so  great  that  it  was  said  that  streams  of 
blood  ran  down  the  hill  into  the  little  brook  below,  and  gave  it  the 
name  by  which  it  has  ever  since  been  known.  Before  the  fire-arms 
and  greater  persistency  of  the  whites  the  Indians  could  not  stand.  A 
large  number  of  them  were  killed,  and  many  were  taken  prisoners,  to 
be  held  as  slaves;  the  remnant  fled  to  the  forest,  dispirited,  and  weak 
in  numbers;  and  in  eastern  Virginia  there  were  no  more  Indian  mur- 
ders and  outrages. 

While  Bacon  was  engaged  in  this  campaign  against  the  Indians, 
treachery  put  it  into  the  power  of  Berkeley  to  return  to  Jamestown  and 
resume  his  role  of  governor  and  tyrant.  Two  zealous  supporters  of  the 
recent  movement,  Bland  and  Carver,  undertook  to  make  a  descent  upon 
the  eastern  shore  in  two  armed  vessels,  and  to  take  Berkeley  prisoner 
and  carry  him  to  Jamestown.  With  poorly  disciplined  crews  they  sailed, 
and  arrived  off"  the  shore  where  the  fugitive  was  residing,  but  seem  to  have 
hesitated  as  to  their  further  movements.  But  treachery  was  more  prompt. 
One  Captain  Larrimore  commanded  one  of  the  vessels,  and,  from  his 
loud  professions,  was  supposed  to  be  a  zealous  friend  of  the  revolu- 
tionary cause.  He  was,  however,  a  traitor,  and,  influenced  by  the  hope 
of  reward,  he  secretly  advised  Berkeley  of  the  object  of  the  expedition, 
and  arranged  for  the  betrayal  of  the  vessels  into  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernor. Bland  and  Carver  were  not  the  men  to  lead  such  an  enterprise 
as  they  had  undertaken.  Confident  of  success,  at  night  they  indulged 
in  the  pleasures  of  the  wine-cup,  and  their  crews  followed  their  exam- 
ple. While  thus  unprepared  for  any  attack,  Larrimore,  at  midnight,  con- 
ducted two  boats  carrying  an  armed  force  of  twenty-six  men  to  the 
vessels.  The  crews,  overcome  by  wine  and  sleep,  were  soon  made  pris- 
oners, and  Bland  and  Carver  were  carried  on  shore  and  put  in  irons. 
Berkeley  was  overjoyed  at  this  success,  and  he  hastened  to  gratify  his 
vindictive  spirit.  Four  days  after  the  capture  Carver  was  hung,  and 


THE  PATRIOTS  BESIEGE   JAMESTOWN.  2O3 

Bland  met  the  same  fate  at  a  later  date,  although  he  pleaded  a  special 
pardon  from  the  king,  which  the  governor  basely  suppressed. 

Learning  that  Bacon  was  absent  on  his  campaign  against  the  In- 
dians, and  that  there  was  no  force  to  resist  him  at  Jamestown,  Berkeley 
collected  what  force  he  could,  numbering  five  or  six  hundred  men,  and 
set  sail  with  one  large  armed  vessel  and  seventeen  small  craft.  Arriving 
at  Jamestown,  he  landed  without  opposition,  but  without  any  shouts  of 
welcome,  and,  having  devoutly  thanked  God  for  his  delivery,  immediately 
issued  a  proclamation  against  the  "  rebels,"  whom  he  supposed  to  be 
already  circumvented  and  defeated.  The  old  cavalier  had  imbibed  the 
spirit  of  his  royal  masters,  the  Stuarts,  and  had  neither  magnanimity  nor 
tact  by  which  he  might  make  friends  even  among  the  revolutionists. 
The  "divine  right"  of  the  king  and  his  own  prerogative  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  royalty  had  been  assailed,  and  he  thought  only  of  vengeance. 
Bacon  and  his  more  prominent  associates  must  be  speedily  punished. 

But  while  the  vindictive  governor  was  anticipating  his  complete  tri- 
umph over  the  rebellion,  Bacon,  in  his  camp  near  the  scene  of  the 
bloody  battle  with  the  Indians,  received  intelligence  of  the  change  in  the 
condition  of  affairs  at  Jamestown.  With  the  promptness  of  an  able 
general  he  called  upon  his  followers  to  march  against  the  domestic  foe, 
and  advanced  rapidly  towards  the  seat  of  government.  On  the  march 
he  caused  the  wives  of  several  prominent  royalists,  who  were  found  on 
their  plantations,  to  be  brought  into  his  camp,  and  then  sent  one  of  them 
to  announce  the  capture  to  their  husbands  in  the  town. 

At  sunset,  after  a  march  of  several  days,  Bacon's  forces  reached  a 
gentle  eminence  near  the  defences  of  Jamestown.  Their  arrival  was 
announced  by  a  sounding  of  trumpets  and  the  discharge  of  a  volley  of 
musketry,  and  they  immediately  went  to  work  digging  trenches  and 
throwing  up  a  breast-work  for  defence.  Through  the  night  the  work 
was  continued,  and  the  governor  and  his  associates  being  informed  that 
the  captured  wives  of  their  royalist  friends  were  exposed  on  the  ram- 
parts, not  a  shot  was  fired  from  the  fort  or  ships  to  disturb  the  be- 
leaguering force.  The  next  morning,  however,  Berkeley  led  out  a  force 
of  seven  or  eight  hundred  men  to  storm  the  intrenchment,  vainly  im- 
agining that  he  could  drive  the  "rebels"  before  him.  But  the  force 
which  he  encountered  was  superior  in  character  and  courage  to  his  own 


204 


BACON'S  REBELLION. 


hireling  troops,  and  met  with  signal  defeat.  Utterly  routed,  and  with 
serious  loss,  the  royalist  troops  fled,  and  their  leaders  narrowly  escaped 
death  or  captivity. 

Bacon  followed  up  his  success  with  great  vigor,  and  planting  can- 
non in  a  position  to  command  the  river,  he  opened  fire  upon  the  fleet 
lying  there  at  anchor.  Berkeley  placed  his  chief  dependence  upon  his 
naval  force,  and  finding  it  thus  exposed  to  destruction,  and  having  no 
land  force  capable  of  resisting  Bacon's  men,  he  was  compelled  to  em- 
bark with  his  followers  and  sail  down  the  river  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  hostile  cannon.  Bacon  immediately  took  possession  of  Jamestown, 
and  found  it  utterly  deserted.  But  what  to  do  with  it  was  a  serious 
question.  He  had  no  sufficient  force  to  hold  it  against  a  formidable 
attack,  and  to  abandon  it,  for  the  royalists  again  to  take  possession, 
would  be  dangerous  to  the  cause  in  which  he  was  now  enlisted.  He 
therefore  proposed  that  the  town  should  be  destroyed,  and  the  propo- 
sition was  approved  without  hesitation.  Two  of  his  friends  with  their 
own  hands  set  fire  to  their  respective  houses,  and  soon  the  torch  was 
applied  to  all.  In  a  short  time  the  little  town  was  in  flames,  and  the 
insurgent  commander  retired  with  his  victorious  army. 

Berkeley  had  called  into  the  field  a  considerable  force  which,  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Brent,  was  advancing  from  the  upper  counties 
towards  Jamestown.  Bacon,  on  learning  this,  addressed  his  followers 
with  his  usual  eloquence,  and,  informing  them  of  the  threatening  danger, 
appealed  to  them  to  stand  by  him  and  renew  the  contest.  This  appeal 
was  responded  to  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  His  men  were  ready 
to  follow  him  to  the  death.  Leaving  all  superfluous  baggage,  the  whole 
force  hastened  forward  to  meet  the  enemy.  But  Brent's  force  was 
composed  in  part  of  colonists  who  were  infected  with  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom, and  had  no  sympathy  with  the  royalist  cause  they  had  been  sum- 
moned to  defend.  They  heard  with  joy  of  Bacon's  success  at  James- 
town, and  recognizing  him  as  their  defender  against  a  savage  foe,  as  well 
as  a  patriot  leader  against  the  oppression  of  the  royalist  government, 
they  refused  to  march  against  him,  and  returned  to  their  homes,  leaving 
Brent  with  such  a  meagre  following  that  he  was  forced  to  fly  for  safety. 

Bacon  had  accomplished  his  purpose.  Under  his  patriotic  and  vig- 
orous lead  the  people  had  asserted  their  rights,  and  their  oppressors 


DEATH  OF  THE  LEADER.  2o5 

had  sought  safety  in  flight.  A  new  assembly  had  been  chosen  under  a 
free  election,  and  would  fairly  represent  the  popular  will.  The  armed 
force  was  disbanded,  though  ready  to  reassemble  at  a  moment's  warn- 
ing to  resist  the  oppressions  of  the  royal  government.  The  new  order 
of  things  seemed  to  be  firmly  established,  and  the  only  fear  was  that  the 
royalists  would  receive  aid  from  England,  and  that  the  king  would  re- 
store his  supporters  and  all  the  grievances  from  which  the  colony  had 
been  freed. 

At  this  quiet  yet  critical  period  Bacon  died.  He  had  contracted  a 
fatal  disease  in  camp,  and  he  gradually  failed  till  October,  when  death 
saved  him  from  witnessing  the  ruin  of  all  his  work  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  for  which  he  had  so  zealously  and  suc- 
cessfully contended.  He  had  been  the  soul  of  the  rebellion;  around 
him  the  people  had  rallied  with  enthusiasm,  attracted  by  his  chivalrous 
bearing,  and  his  native  qualifications  for  leadership.  They  had  implicit 
confidence  in  his  patriotism  and  abilities,  and  that  confidence  was  justi- 
fied by  his  actions  and  success.  But  when  he  was  gone,  there  was  no 
one  capable  of  filling  his  place.  Already  Berkeley  and  his  adherents 
were  gaining  courage  and  strength,  and  feeling  the  want  of  a  bold  and 
sagacious  leader,  the  patriot  party  became  discouraged  and  weak.  The 
royalist  governor  had  sent  to  England  for  aid  to  subdue  the  rebels, 
and  had  organized  some  forces  from  the  colonists  who  from  prudence 
or  genuine  loyalty  adhered  to  the  royalist  cause.  Beverly,  a  zealous 
member  of  his  council,  sailed  up  the  rivers,  and  scoured  the  country  in 
pursuit  of  the  insurgents,  who  were  again  taking  up  arms  to  resist  the 
return  of  the  oppressor.  With  no  competent  leader  to  command  them, 
the  patriots  made  but  a  feeble  resistance,  and  becoming  discouraged, 
many  retired  to  their  homes.  Ingram  and  Walklate  were  now  in 
command,  but  were  little  qualified  to  lead  the  patriot  forces,  which 
were  soon  entirely  dispersed. 

Recovering  his  lost  power,  Berkeley  indulged  his  arbitrary  and  vin- 
dictive spirit.  As  soon  as  any  of  the  men  who  had  been  prominent  in 
the  insurrection  were  captured,  they  were  tried  by  court-martial,  con- 
demned, and  hurried  to  the  gallows.  Nor  did  the  governor  hesitate  to 
insult  his  victims,  nor  to  pursue  with  implacable  hostility  the  wives  of 
some  of  the  unfortunate  sufferers.  When 'William  Drummond,  one  of 


206  BACON'S  REBELLION. 

the  most  prominent  men  in  the  colony,  and  a  firm  friend  of  Bacon,  was 
captured,  the  governor  came  on  shore  from  his  ship,  and  saluting  the 
prisoner  with  mock  politeness,  said,  "  Mr.  Drummond,  you  are  very 
welcome!  I  am  more  glad  to  see  you  than  any  man  in  Virginia.  Mr. 
Drummond,  you  shall  be  hanged  in  half  an  hour!"  A  court-martial, 
organized  on  the  spot,  speedily  condemned  the  unfortunate  patriot,  and 
he  was  executed  as  soon  as  a  gibbet  could  be  prepared.  Not  satisfied 
with  this  gratification  of  his  vengeance,  he  afterwards  subjected  the 
widow  of  his  victim  to  fines  and  confiscation,  and  would  gladly  have 
hanged  her  too. 

Berkeley  would  have  indulged  his  desire  for  vengeance  to  a  still 
greater  extent  than  he  did,  had  he  not  been  prevented  by  the  interpo- 
sition of  royal  commissioners,  sent  out  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the 
colony.  These  commissioners  were  accompanied  by  a  regiment  of  reg- 
ular troops,  sent  in  response  to  the  governor's  demand,  to  suppress  the 
rebellion.  They  were  authorized  to  prosecute  the  war  against  the 
insurgents,  if  necessary,  but  were  instructed  to  use  all  means  to  restore 
peace,  and  they  brought  a  royal  proclamation  of  pardon  to  all  the 
insurgents,  excepting  only  Bacon,  who  was  fortunately  beyond  the  gov- 
ernor's vengeance  or  the  king's  clemency.  With  some  difficulty  the 
commissioners  induced  Berkeley  to  discontinue  trials  by  court-martial 
and  return  to  trial  by  jury.  He  had  used  martial  law,  he  said,  in  order 
to  insure  conviction;  for  he  feared  juries  would  acquit  the  prisoners. 
For  a  time,  however,  even  juries  proved  pliant  tools,  and  served  his 
purpose,  convicting  ten  persons  in  one  day.  Eleven  prisoners  had  been 
executed  under  martial  law;  nine  were  convicted  by  jury  without  appeal 
and  successively  hanged;  a  number  were  banished  from  the  colony, 
never  to  return,  and  their  estates  forfeited  "to  the  use  of  the  king," 
which  was  virtually  to  the  use  of  the  rapacious  governor;  others  were 
crushed  by  enormous  fines,  levied  for  the  use  of  the  king's  troops;  and 
five  men  were  sentenced  to  appear  at  their  respective  county  courts, 
with  ropes  around  their  necks,  and  humbly  ask  pardon  for  their 
"  rebellion  and  treason." 

Angry  that  the  patriot  leader  should  have  escaped  his  vengeance, 
Berkeley  eagerly  sought  to  find  Bacon's  remains,  that  he  might  insult 
his  memory  by  exposing  them  on  a  gibbet.  But  in  this  dastardly  attempt 


THE  END   OF  BERKELEY. 

he  failed;  the  body  of  the  beloved  hero  was  interred  by  friends  in  a 
retired  spot,  and  covered  with  massive  stones,  as  if  they  had  a  presenti- 
ment of  the  hyena-like  purpose  of  the  governor. 

At  last  there  was  a  reaction,  even  among  his  friends,  against  the 
governor's  vindictive  proceedings.  Even  Charles  II.  was  astonished  at 
the  extent  of  the  retribution  visited  upon  the  insurgents,  and  exclaimed, 
"  That  old  fool  has  hanged  more  men  in  that  naked  country  than  I 
have  done  for  the  murder  of  my  father!"  The  patriot  cause  had  long 
since  been  crushed  and  the  old  regime  restored;  there  was  no  longer 
need  for  exemplary  punishment  to  deter  men  from  insurrection,  for  all 
•were  quiet  and  submissive,  and  vengeance  had  had  enough  victims. 
The  assembly  convened  by  Berkeley,  and  which  had  proved  its  devotion 
to  him  by  its  stern  and  cruel  acts  against  the  insurgents,  implored  him 
to  shed  no  more  blood.  He  could  not  longer  resist  the  demand,  which 
had  become  universal,  and  feeling  that  he  had  lost  the  respect  and 
excited  the  disgust  and  hatred  of  the  colony,  he  returned  to  England, 
hoping  to  receive  his  reward  in  the  approval  of  the  king.  But  in  this 
he  was  disappointed;  the  king  refused  to  receive  him  at  court,  and, 
mortified  at  this  indignity  from  the  master  whom  he  had  so  zealously 
served,  he  sank  under  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  soon  died. 

The  spirit  of  freedom  shown  by  the  people  of  Virginia  when  in 
Bacon's  rebellion  they  asserted  their  rights,  though  a  long  time  repressed, 
was  never  crushed,  and  a  century  later  manifested  itself  still  more  glo- 
riously, and  with  more  permanent  results.  The  hero  of  that  revolution 
was  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  those  later  patriots  who  did  so  much  to 
achieve  not  only  the  freedom  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  but  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  American  colonies. 


XXII. 


THE    PILGRIMS   AT    PLYMOUTH. 


-m- 


|N  the  autumn  of  1620,  the  Mayflower,  a  small  ship  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty  tons'  burden,  and  of  the  short 
and  clumsy  model  of  that  time,  was  buffeting  the  rough 
waves  of  the  stormy  Atlantic.  She  bore  a  precious 
freight,  —  one  hundred  and  one  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, dissenters  from  the  Church  of  England,  flying  from 
religious  persecution  in  their  native  land  to  seek  a  home 
in  the  wilderness  of  the  New  World,  where  they  could 
worship  God  as  conscience  dictated,  and  plant  the  seeds  of  civil  liberty. 
The  billows  ran  high,  and  threatening  clouds  hung  darkly  over  the 
trackless  waste  of  waters.  The  imagination  might  easily  see  in  those 
clouds  the  spirits  of  persecution,  with  threatening  gestures,  driving  the 
fugitives  on  their  stormy  way,  and  faith  could  picture  the  angels  of  peace 
before  them  beckoning  them  on  to  the  promised  land. 

Weeks  and  months  passed,  —  sometimes  with  sunshine  to  cheer  the 
voyagers,  but  oftener  with  clouds  and  storms  to  try  the  steadfastness  of 
their  purpose,  —  and  the  lonely  ship  still  sailed  slowly  on  where  sea 
met  sky  on  every  side.  The  days  grew  short  and  cold,  and  head  winds 
seemed  striving  to  drive  them  back  from  the  shores  they  sought.  But, 
trusting  in  God,  they  faltered  not,  and  bore  the  ills  of  their  long  and 
close  confinement  with  steadfast  fortitude.  Sickness  was  there,  and 
death  compelled  them  to  commit  the  remains  of  one  of  their  number 
to  the  deep.  But  despair  and  discontent  never  came  to  disturb  the  peace 
or  waste  the  strength  of  the  leaders,  though  it  is  not  strange  that,  with 

208 


ON  THE   SANDS  OF  CAPE   COD.  209 

all  the  discomforts  of  their  long  and  perilous  voyage,  a  few  should  be 
"  not  well  affected  to  unity  and  concord." 

At  length,  in  November,  the  expanse  of  troubled  waters  was  broken 
by  a  range  of  low  sand  hills,  and,  barren  and  cheerless  as  it  appeared,  the 
sight  of  land  was  hailed  with  joy  and  thanksgiving  by  the  tempest-tossed 
Pilgrims.  They  had  purposed  settling  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson, 
but  the  ignorant  self-will  of  their  captain  brought  them  to  the  inhos- 
pitable shores  of  Cape  Cod.  After  sailing  along  the  cheerless  coast  for 
two  days,  they  rounded  the  extremity  of  the  cape,  and  anchored  in  the 
harbor  on  its  inner  side,  where  the  low  sand  hills  protected  them  from 
the  stormy  winds.  Cheerless  as  seemed  the  shores  to  which  they  had 
been  brought,  the  leading  men  of  the  little  company  landed  to  examine 
the  place,  the  gentle  slope  of  the  beach  compelling  them  to  wade  from 
their  boats  through  the  icy  waters,  and  thus  to  contract  the  seeds  of 
disease  as  their  first  experience  in  the  new  wrorld.  Desolate  and  unin- 
viting sands  offered  them  no  place  for  a  settlement,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  explore  the  coast  in  the  shallop  for  a  more  hospitable  region. 
But  the  shallop  needed  repairs,  and  sixteen  weary  days  were  occupied 
with  this  work,  while  the  cold  increased  and  winter  came  on  apace. 
Meanwhile,  Bradford,  one  of  the  most  energetic  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  company,  and  Standish,  the  soldier,  who  was  in  himself  the  chief 
defence  of  the  projected  colony,  with  a  few  others,  set  out  to  explore 
the  country  by  land.  They  toiled  through  the  sands  with  difficulty,  and 
suffered  from  the  piercing  winds,  but  they  found  only  the  same  barren 
country;  and  weary  and  disappointed  they  returned  to  the  ship.  Winter 
was  already  upon  them  when  the  shallop  was  prepared  for  an  expedition. 
The  sand  hills  were  white  with  snow,  and  the  shallow  inlets  were  every- 
where edged  with  ice,  while  the  spray  dashed  into  the  open  boat  and 
chilled  the  explorers  through.  Landing,  they  marched  through  sands 
and  snow,  with  a  stormy  sky  overhead,  finding  no  vegetation  but  low 
bushes  and  stunted  pines,  and  nowhere  a  spot  which  invited  them  to 
stop.  A  heap  of  maize  and  many  Indian  graves  were  all  that  was  dis- 
covered. Again  the  explorers  returned,  disappointed,  to  the  ship,  some 
of  them  suffering  from  colds  which  resulted  in  consumption  and  death. 

It  was  already  the  middle  of  December  when  Carver,  who  had  been 
chosen  governor  before  the  Mayflower  anchored,  Bradford,  Winslow, 

NO.  vi.  27 


210  THE  PILGRIMS  AT  PLYMOUTH. 

Standish,  and  others,  with  a  number  of  sailors,  again  set  sail  in  the  shal- 
lop, in  further  search  for  a  safe  haven  and  a  suitable  place  for  a  settle- 
ment. It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  such  a  place  should  be 
found.  Winter  was  already  upon  them  with  a  severity  to  which  they 
were  unused,  and  the  women  and  children  were  exposed  to  great  suf- 
fering on  board  the  ship,  which  might  become  a  prey  to  the  fierce 
storms.  The  spray  froze  on  their  clothing  as  it  dashed  into  the  little 
bark,  and  the  cold  wind  cut  them  to  the  marrow.  The  second  day,  a 
portion  of  the  company  landed  on  the  shore  at  the  bottom  of  Cape 
Cod  Bay  to  explore  the  interior,  while  the  shallop  sailed  along  the 
shore.  The  party  on  land  discovered  several  deserted  wigwams  and 
some  Indian  graves,  but  saw  no  inhabitants,  nor  found  a  spot  that  invited 
them  to  stay.  At  night  the  whole  party  encamped  on  the  land,  and 
the  next  morning,  ere  they  had  finished  their  morning  prayers,  they  were 
startled  by  the  war-whoop  of  savages  and  a  flight  of  arrows  from  a 
neighboring  thicket.  Fortunately  no  one  was  hurt,  and  hastily  em- 
barking in  their  boat,  they  gave  thanks  to  God  for  their  escape,  and 
sailed  away. 

The  pilot,  who  professed  to  have  visited  these  waters  on  some  pre- 
vious expedition,  declared  that  he  knew  a  good  harbor  which  they  might 
reach  before  night,  and  he  directed  the  shallop  towards  the  promised 
haven.  But  a  fierce  storm  of  snow  and  rain  overtook  them,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  swollen  sea  the  rudder  broke,  and  they  were  obliged  to 
steer  with  an  oar.  As  night  approached,  the  storm  increased;  but  in 
order  to  reach  the  harbor  before  dark  they  spread  as  much  sail  as  they 
dared.  Too  much,  indeed;  for  the  mast  of  the  little  bark  broke,  and  the 
sails  fell  overboard.  Drifting  with  the  tide,  they  were  approaching  the 
shore,  and  would  have  been  wrecked  in  the  breakers  had  not  a  sailor, 
more  watchful  than  the  frightened  pilot,  cried  out,  "  About  with  her,  or 
we  are  lost!"  With  desperate  energy  they  succeeded  in  putting  the 
boat  about,  and  soon  entered  more  quiet  waters,  under  the  lee  of  some 
land.  It  was  already  night,  and,  shivering  with  cold  and  wet,  the  whole 
company  landed,  and  with  what  little  wood  they  could  collect  built  a 
fire,  around  which  they  gathered  in  wretched  plight,  and  passed  a  dreary 
night,  fearful  lest  savages  might  be  guided  by  the  light  and  make  an 
attack. 


LANDING   ON  PLYMOUTH  ROCK.  211 

When  at  last  morning  came,  they  found  that  they  were  on  a  small 
island  at  the  entrance  of  a  harbor.  It  was  a  safe  place ;  and,  worn  out 
by  the  fatigue  and  exposure  to  storm  and  cold,  they  determined  to 
remain  there  to  rest  and  refit  their  disabled  boat.  The  following  day 
was  Sunday,  and  was  observed  with  scrupulous  fidelity  to  their  religious 
principles.  No  work  could  be  performed  on  the  Sabbath,  and  no  explo- 
ration made,  although  time  was  so  precious  to  them,  and  to  their  friends 
and  families  waiting  anxiously  in  the  Mayflower.  With  devout  thanks- 
giving for  their  escape  from  the  perils  of  the  sea,  and  such  religious 
services  as  circumstances  permitted,  they  passed  another  day  of  rest. 

With  the  dawn  of  Monday  (December  n,  old  style),  they  again 
embarked,  and  sailed  into  the  harbor,  which  seemed  to  them  at  last, 
notwithstanding  the  wintry  aspect  of  the  land  around  it,  to  be  the  haven 
of  rest.  Reaching  the  shore,  they  stepped  upon  the  rock  which  has 
ever  since  been  held  in  reverent  memory,  and  the  name  of  which  has 
become  inseparably  connected  with  the  principles  and  institutions  which 
those  devout  pilgrims  brought  to  New  England,  and  thence  spread 
throughout  the  continent.  With  fervent  thanks  to  God,  they  trod  the 
soil  which  offered  them  at  last  a  favorable  spot  for  a  settlement.  After 
a  brief  examination  of  the  place  they  hastened  back  to  the  Mayflower, 
and  in  a  few  days  the  little  ship  was  moored  safely  in  the  harbor,  and 
the  whole  company  prepared  to  debark.  In  honor  of  the  port  from 
which  they  last  sailed  in  England  they  named  the  place  Plymouth,  and 
piously  invoked  the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  their  new  home. 

The  Pilgrims  came  to  America  under  no  royal  charter.  With  much 
difficulty  they  obtained  a  patent  from  the  Virginia  Company,*  but  they 
sought  in  vain  the  favor  of  the  king,  and  all  they  could  obtain  was  an 
informal  promise  of  neglect.  They  were  few  in  numbers,  and  most  of 
them  obscure  men,  of  little  account  to  the  commercial  or  political  inter- 
ests of  the  kingdom;  they  were  therefore  considered  as  unworthy  of 
royal  notice,  except  that  as  non-conformists  they  could  not  be  tolerated 
in  England.  But,  already  accustomed  to  persecution,  they  were  content 
with  a  concession  that  implied  that  they  should  not  be  disturbed  in  their 
right  to  worship  God  according  to  their  conscience,  and  no  emigrants 

*  Under  one  royal  patent  two  companies  had  been  incorporated,  the  London  Company  to  col- 
onize South  Virginia,  and  the  Plymouth  Company  to  colonize  North  Virginia. 


212  THE   PILGRIMS  AT  PLYMOUTH. 

could  be  better  prepared  to  endure  the  hardships  and  encounter  the 
perils  of  a  settlement  in  the  wilderness.  "  We  are  well  weaned,"  they 
said,  "  from  the  delicate  milk  of  our  mother  country,  and  inured  to  the 
difficulties  of  a  strange  land;  the  people  are  industrious  and  frugal.  We 
are  knit  together  as  a  body  in  a  most  sacred  covenant  of  the  Lord,  of 
the  violation  whereof  we  make  great  conscience,  and  by  virtue  whereof 
we  hold  ourselves  straitly  tied  to  all  care  of  each  other's  good,  and  of 
the  whole.  It  is  not  with  us  as  with  men  whom  small  things  can  dis- 
courage." 

They  had  come  with  no  code  prepared  by  others  to  govern  their 
conduct  and  impose  duties  and  obligations  upon  them,  and  they  recog- 
nized none  except  such  as  religion  imposed,  or  the  public  will,  guided 
by  the  Bible,  might  establish.  They  knew,  however,  the  necessity  of 
government  and  order,  and  even  had  the  strictest  notions  in  regard  to 
them;  but  they  were  equal  in  rank  and  in  rights,  and  the  regulation  of 
their  common  interests  must  be  by  common  consent,  or  the  expressed 
will  of  the  people.  Before  they  landed,  therefore,  they  considered  the 
manner  in  which  their  affairs  should  be  regulated,  and  by  a  solemn  com- 
pact formed  themselves  into  "  a  civil  body  politic."  The  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, after  a  time,  asserted  the  right  to  regulate  their  own  affairs,  to  a 
certain  extent;  but  the  Pilgrims  established  a  popular  constitution,  under 
which  they  were  to  govern  themselves  by  just  and  equal  laws.  This 
germ  of  popular  constitutional  liberty,  from  which  sprang  the  more 
complete  growth  of  a  later  period,  was  as  follows:  — 

"In  the  name  of  God,  Amen:  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten, 
the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign  King  James,  having  under- 
taken, for  the  glory  of  God  and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and 
honor  of  our  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Virginia,  do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually, 
in  the  presence  of  God  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  combine  our- 
selves together  into  a  civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  pres- 
ervation, and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  virtue  hereof,  to 
enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts, 
constitutions,  and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most 
convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony.  Unto  which  we  promise 
all  due  submission  and  obedience." 


FIRE,  SICKNESS,  AND  DEATH.  213 

This  instrument  was  signed  by  all  the  men  of  the  company,  forty- 
one  in  number,  and  John  Carver  was  unanimously  chosen  governor  for 
a  year;  the  principle  of  frequently  recurring  elections  being  thus  recog- 
nized at  the  outset.  When  the  colony  landed  at  Plymouth  it  was  thus 
under  a  recognized  government  established  by  itself  for  the  regulation 
of  its  affairs,  —  a  democracy  planted  on  soil  destined  to  be  the  home 
of  democratic  institutions. 

They  soon  commenced  cutting  timber,  of  which  there  was  an  abun- 
dance of  excellent  quality,  the  pine  predominating,  and  with  tedious 
labor  prepared  to  build  first  a  common  house,  and  then  they  divided 
themselves  into  nineteen  families,  and  assigned  to  each  a  lot  of  land  on 
which  to  erect  a  separate  dwelling.  Many  of  the  company  were  suf- 
fering from  lung-fever  and  consumption,  and  unable  to  work,  while  the 
cold  and  the  frequent  storms  were  great  hinderances  to  those  who  could. 
Hewing  plank  from  the  logs  was  no  easy  task,  and  the  work  of  building 
progressed  but  slowly.  The  common  house  being  enclosed  and  thatched, 
it  was  agreed  that  each  family  should  construct  their  own  house;  but  the 
winter  had  passed  before  all  of  them  were  provided  with  shelter.  Their 
first  house  did  not  last  long,  for  it  had  been  occupied  but  a  few  days 
when  it  took  fire  from  a  spark  falling  upon  the  thatch,  and  was  entirely 
consumed.  Governor  Carver  and  Bradford  were  in  the  house,  sick  in 
their  beds  at  the  time,  but  escaped  without  harm.  Those  on  board  the 
ship,  when  they  saw  the  flames,  thought  that  the  Indians  had  made  an 
attack  and  set  fire  to  the  house,  but  they  were  prevented  by  a  high  wind 
and  low  tide  from  rendering  any  assistance.  The  common  house  being 
destroyed,  the  settlers  made  haste  as  best  they  could  to  build  those  for  the 
several  families. 

In  the  mean  time  sickness  was  wasting  their  strength,  and  death  was 
diminishing  their  numbers.  The  cold,  exposure,  and  hardship  they  suf- 
fered had  sown  the  seeds  of  fatal  disease.  In  the  month  of  December 
six  of  the  little  company  died,  in  January  eight,  in  February  seventeen, 
in  March  thirteen,  and  in  April  one,  —  forty-five  out  of  the  hundred 
and  one  who  had  crossed  the  ocean  perished  within  five  months.  At 
times  it  seemed  as  if  there  were  not  enough  well  ones  to  take  care  of  the 
sick  and  bury  the  dead.  In  their  greatest  strait  there  were  but  seven 
able  to  render  assistance.  Among  those  who  died  during  this  period 


2I4  THE  PILGRIMS  AT  PLYMOUTH. 

was  Governor  Carver,  who  sank  under  a  sudden  attack  and  did  not  long 
survive.  He  had  lost  a  son  since  landing  at  Plymouth,  and  his  wife, 
broken-hearted  under  this  double  affliction,  soon  followed  him  to  the 
grave. 

William  Bradford  was  chosen  governor  soon  after  Carver's  death, 
and  the  choice  could  not  have  fallen  upon  any  one  in  the  little  company 
better  qualified  to  fill  the  place.  At  this  period  it  would  seem  that  it 
mattered  little  who  was  governor;  for  the  survivors  numbered  but  a  few 
more  than  fifty,  and  there  were  not  more  than  a  score  of  men  to  make 
the  choice.  But  the  election  was  made  with  all  proper  formality,  and 
under  a  solemn  sense  of  their  duty  and  privilege. 

The  milder  weather  of  spring  brought  relief  to  the  sick,  and  return- 
ing verdure  revived  the  spirits  of  all.  "The  birds  sang  in  the  woods 
most  pleasantly."  Children  venturing  to  the  borders  of  the  forest  dis- 
covered, peering  through  the  dry  leaves  on  sunny  slopes,  the  sweet 
blossoms  of  the  trailing  arbutus,  more  commonly  known  as  the  May- 
flower,—  a  name  which  seems  to  identify  it  with  the  Pilgrims  and  the 
good  ship  which  brought  them  to  their  new  home,  where  this  little  plant 
loves  best  to  bloom.  The  men,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  till  the 
fields  before  they  were  driven  from  England  and  compelled  to  learn 
other  employments  in  Holland,  rejoiced  when  they  could  turn  the  light 
soil,  and  prepared  with  hopeful  toil  their  limited  gardens.  The  land  on 
whose  shores  they  had  set  foot  amid  the  desolation  of  winter  with 
devout  thanksgiving,  now  wore  a  more  pleasing  aspect,  and  called  forth 
new  gratitude.  Still  they  were  mourning  their  dead,  and  enduring  priva- 
tions, and  observing  their  religious  duties  with  cold  austerity,  and  there 
was  nothing  like  joy  for  them.  The  summer  gave  them  a  few  vegeta- 
bles from  their  scanty  garden,  but  their  supplies  were  limited  and  their 
comforts  few.  Whatever  they  had,  however,  was  shared  in  common, 
and  none  were  favored  above  others. 

The  colonists  at  first  had  a  natural  fear  of  the  Indians,  who  were 
supposed  to  be  numerous  throughout  the  wilderness  of  the  new  world. 
But  for  some  time  they  scarcely  saw  a  savage.  They  had  found  many 
graves,  some  hidden  stores  of  corn,  and  a  few  deserted  wigwams,  but, 
fortunately  for  their  weak  condition,  living  savages  were  very  few. 
Smoke  curling  from  their  cabins  in  the  remote  distance  was  the  only 


APPEARANCE    OF  INDIANS. 


215 


indication  of  the  present  existence  of  the  natives.  Along  the  coast  the 
Indians  were  indeed  few.  Some  years  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the 
Pilgrims  a  pestilence  had  swept  them  away  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  nearly 
the  whole  seaboard  of  New  England  had  been  left  desolate.  Whole 
tribes  had  disappeared,  those  who  escaped  the  pestilence  having  retired 
to  some  more  remote  region,  and  joined  their  kindred  tribes.  Wan- 
dering parties  of  Indians  roamed  through  the  woods  at  intervals,  and 
some  had  approached  the  settlement,  but  when  the  daring  Standish  and 
others  attempted  to  approach  them,  even  with  signs  of  friendship,  they 
fled  in  apparent  alarm. 

One  day,  in  the  spring  subsequent  to  the  arrival  of  the  colonists,  Sam- 
oset,  an  Indian  who  had  learned  a  little  English  from  fishermen  on  the 
coast  of  Maine, -walked  boldly  into  the  little  settlement,  and  with  friendly 
gestures  said  to  the  astonished  settlers,  "  Welcome,  Englishmen."  He 
belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Wampanoags,  which  at  a  later  period  waged 
a  desperate  war  against  the  whites.  In  the  name  of  his  people  he  bade 
the  settlers  welcome  to  the  land  whose  former  occupants,  he  said,  had 
all  died  of  the  pestilence.  This  demonstration  of  friendship  greatly 
relieved  the  fears  of  the  timid,  and  cheered  the  spirits  of  all.  Samoset 
was  treated  with  great  kindness,  and  left  the  next  day,  highly  pleased 
with  his  entertainment,  and  the  knife,  bracelet,  and  ring  which  had  been 
given  him.  He  promised  to  return  soon,  and  to  bring  some  beaver- 
skins  to  trade  with;  and,  good  as  his  word,  he  came  on  the  following 
Sunday,  with  five  other  natives,  bringing  some  tools  which  the  settlers 
had  left  in  the  woods,  and  a  few  skins  for  barter.  But,  it  being  the 
Lord's  day,  the  English  refused  to  trade  or  hold  intercourse  with  them, 
and  dismissed  them  with  a  request  that  they  should  come  again.  Sam- 
oset, however,  remained  two  or  three  days,  when  he  was  sent  to  learn 
why  his  friends  had  not  returned.  Through  the  good  offices  of  Sam- 
oset, and  by  the  aid,  as  interpreter,  of  Squanto,  an  Indian  who  had  been 
kidnapped  some  years  previously  and  carried  to  England,  but  afterwards 
returned,  and  who  had  thus  acquired  some  English,  the  colonists  made 
a  treaty  with  Massasoit,  the  sachem  of  the  nearest  formidable  tribe. 
This  tribe  inhabited  the  region  between  the  Providence  and  Taunton 
Rivers,  while  east  of  the  latter  there  were  only  wandering  bands,  or 
the  remnants  of  almost  extinct  tribes.  Samoset  had  probably,  by  his 


2 1 6  THE   PIL GRIMS  AT  PL TMO UTH. 

account  of  his  visit  to  Plymouth,  induced  Massasoit  to  come  and  see  the 
strangers  for  himself. 

Massasoit  appeared,  with  fifty  or  sixty  followers,  on  the  hill  over- 
looking the  settlement.  Mutual  distrust  for  some  time  prevented  any 
advance  from  either  side;  but  at  length  Squanto  came  in  with  a  message 
from  the  sachem,  and  the  settlers  agreed  to  send  one  of  their  number 
to  parley  with  him.  Mr.  Edward  Winslow  was  selected  for  this  service. 
He  accompanied  Squanto  to  the  hill,  carrying  two  knives  and  a  copper 
chain,  with  a  jewel  on  it,  as  presents  to  Massasoit,  and  a  knife  and  jewel 
for  his  brother,  together  with  some  biscuit  and  butter.  Mr.  Winslow 
presented  these  articles  with  a  speech,  in  which  he  said  that  King  James 
saluted  him  with  words  of  love  and  peace,  and  that  the  governor  of  the 
colony  desired  to  see  him  and  establish  a  firm  peace  with  him  as  his 
next  neighbor.  The  sachem  accepted  the  gifts  with  evident  satisfaction, 
and  signified  his  approval  of  the  friendly  sentiments  expressed.  The 
provision  sent  was  partaken  of  by  the  Indians  with  apparent  relish,  and 
Massasoit  then  desired  to  trade  with  Mr.  Winslow  for  his  sword,  which 
was  regarded  with  great  admiration  by  the  savage;  but  the  owner  was 
unwilling  to  part  with  that  useful  weapon. 

Being  assured  of  a  friendly  reception  by  the  whites,  Massasoit, 
leaving  Winslow  as  a  hostage  in  charge  of  his  brother,  went  with  twenty 
unarmed  men  to  the  settlement  to  meet  the  governor.  The  attempt 
made  by  the  little  band  of  colonists  to  receive  the  native  king  with  due 
pomp  and  ceremony  is  ludicrous.  Captain  Standish  and  Mr.  William- 
son, with  six  musketeers,  met  the  visitors  at  a  brook  which  they  were 
obliged  to  cross,  and  escorted  them  to  a  partially  constructed  house, 
where  a  rug  and  three  or  four  cushions  were  spread  upon  the  floor. 
When  they  arrived  at  the  door,  the  governor,  attended  by  a  drummer 
and  trumpeter  and  a  few  musketeers,  advanced  to  meet  them.  The 
drum  was  beat  and  the  trumpet  sounded,  somewhat  to  the  alarm  of  the 
natives,  and  the  governor  then  saluted  his  guests  with  due  ceremony, 
and  invited  the  chief  to  be  seated.  Refreshments  were  then  brought, 
and  the  settlers  undoubtedly  did  their  best  to  provide  a  proper  entertain- 
ment out  of  their  scanty  stores.  But  the  natives  \vere  not  fastidious, 
and  did  full  justice  to  the  feast. 

Having  secured   the    good  will    and  confidence    of  the    Indians,  the 


STANDISH  THREATENS  DISAFFECTED  NATIVES.         217 

governor  and  his  associates  then  commenced  a  parley  with  them,  and  a 
league  of  friendship  was  agreed  on,  and  duly  ratified,  with  proper  for- 
malities. Massasoit  was  impressed  with  the  friendly  reception  he  had 
received,  and  was  ready  to  reciprocate  the  good  will  of  the  English. 
He  promised  that  he  and  his  people  should  be  friends  with  the  col- 
onists, and  he  faithfully  kept  his  promise  during  his  life.  For  the 
colonists,  in  their  weak  condition,  it  was  a  treaty  of  great  importance, 
and  perhaps  saved  them  from  utter  destruction  before  they  were  able 
to  cope  with  any  formidable  number  of  hostile  Indians.  With  Miles 
Standish,  however,  for  a  leader,  they  were  by  no  means  defenceless. 

Some  time  after  the  league  of  friendship  with  Massasoit,  the  services 
of  Standish  were  required  to  prevent  an  attack  from  some  discontented, 
treacherous  savages.  Corbitant,  a  petty  chief  of  Massasoit's  tribe,  was 
not  disposed  to  observe  the  treaty,  and  attempted  to  alienate  some  of  his 
tribe  from  the  more  peaceful  sachem,  and  to  induce  them  to  join  in  an 
attack  on  the  settlement.  Squanto  and  Hobomack,  two  faithful  friends 
of  the  English,  going  to  Nemasket,  where  Corbitant  was  engaged  in  his 
treacherous  plot,  were  threatened  with  death  by  that  savage.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  seizing  Squanto,  but  Hobomack  made  his  escape,  and  going 
to  Plymouth,  informed  the  governor  of  the  designs  of  the  discontented 
chief.  Standish  was  at  once  sent  with  fourteen  men,  and  Hobomack  for 
a  guide,  to  Nemasket,  to  liberate  Squanto  and  counteract  the  machina- 
tions of  Corbitant.  On  their  arrival  Corbitant  and  his  followers  fled, 
and  Standish,  explaining  to  the  natives  the  purpose  of  his  coming, 
threatened  them  with  dire  punishment  in  case  of  any  insurrection  against 
Massasoit,  the  Englishman's  friend,  or  of  any  treacherous  movement 
against  the  colony.  The  disaffected  natives  had  gone,  and  those  who 
remained  avowed  themselves  faithful  to  Massasoit  and  the  treaty  of 
amity  he  had  made  with  the  English. 

This  bold  expedition  inspired  all  the  neighboring  Indians  with  re- 
spect for  the  English,  and,  combined  with  the  friendship  of  Massasoit, 
who  had  great  influence  over  most  of  the  tribes,  induced  a  number  of 
petty  chiefs  to  come  to  Plymouth  and  solicit  the  friendship  of  the  Eng- 
lish. Nine  of  them  came  at  one  time  and  signified  their  submission  to 
King  James,  and  their  friendship  for  the  colonists.  The  friendship  of 
Massasoit  was  indeed  a  fortunate  thing  for  the  colonists,  securing  them 

NO.  vi.  28 


2 1 8  THE   PIL  GRIMS  AT  PL  TMO UTH. 

as  it  did  against  the  attacks  of  savages,  when  their  small  numbers  might 
soon  have  wasted  before  continued  hostilities. 

In  November,  1621,  a  ship  arrived  from  England  bringing  thirty-six 
persons  to  join  the  colony.  The  voyage  had  been  long,  and  their  sup- 
ply of  provisions  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  the  new-comers  were  there- 
fore dependent  upon  the  scanty  stores  of  the  colonists  for  their  subsistence. 
Winter  was  approaching,  the  settlers  had  been  able  to  raise  but  little  in 
their  garden,  and  the  natives,  unlike  those  of  Virginia,  had  no  consid- 
erable stores  of  corn  from  which  to  supply  them.  The  outlook  was 
dreary  enough,  and  it  became  necessary  at  once  to  put  the  whole  com- 
pany upon  half  allowance.  And  thus  they  passed  through  the  long 
winter  with  insufficient  food.  Men  staggered  from  sheer  weakness,  and 
children  cried  for  more  food,  while  the  patient  matrons  often  deprived 
themselves  of  a  portion  of  their  own  scanty  allowance  to  answer  the  cry. 
For  six  months  and  more  they  were  on  short  allowance,  and  the  effect 
upon  health  and  strength  may  be  imagined.  But  they  were  to  suffer 
severer  privation  than  this  at  a  little  later  period. 

In  the  third  year  of  the  settlement  the  colonists  were  reduced  to 
the  greatest  straits.  Their  supplies  were  nearly  exhausted,  and  *'  they 
knew  not  at  night  where  to  have  a  bit  in  the  morning."  From  the  com- 
mon store  a  pint  of  corn  was  doled  out  daily  to  each  family,  and  often 
this  was  their  only  food.  Distributed  impartially  to  the  members  of  the 
household,  it  gave  sometimes  but  five  kernels  to  each.  Five  kernels  of 
parched  corn  to  satisfy  the  long-continued  cravings  of  hunger!  Think 
of  it,  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  as  ye  sit  at  your  bountifully  supplied 
tables,  and  see  the  land  teeming  with  plenty,  —  the  vast  granaries  of  the 
West,  the  countless  herds,  the  fruit-laden  orchards,  the  productive  fields, 
and  the  white  sails  of  commerce  bringing  to  you  the  luxuries  of  every 
clime!  Contrast  these  conditions,  and  thank  God  that  the  Pilgrims  amid 
their  privations  planted  the  seed  and  nurtured  the  growth  of  civil  lib- 
erty under  which  you  enjoy  unnumbered  blessings.  Imagine  the  sadness 
that  must  have  clouded  the  stern  visage  of  the  Puritan  householder  as 
he  counted  out  to  each  member  of  the  family  the  five  little  kernels  that 
were  to  preserve  them  from  utter  starvation;  see  the  pious  resignation 
of  the  mother,  and  the  pathetic  looks  of  the  uncomplaining  children! 


DEALING     OUT     THE     FIVE     KERNELS    OF     CORN. 


WEAK  CONDITION  OF  THE   COLONISTS.  219 

Truly,  they  who  for  weary  months  endured  such  privations  were  sus- 
tained by  an  undying  faith  and  for  a  beneficent  purpose. 

For  a  time  the  destitute  settlers  had  not  even  five  kernels  of  corn 
apiece,  for  the  stock  was  entirely  exhausted,  and  there  was  no  means 
of  replenishing  it.  Fortunately  they  had  shell-fish,  which  are  still  a 
luxury  in  that  region,  and  the  bay  afforded  them  other  fish.  They  also 
procured  some  limited  supplies  from  fishing-vessels,  numbers  of  which, 
at  that  time,  resorted  to  the  "banks,"  and  occasionally  entered  the  bay. 
They  endured  all  this  want  without  murmuring,  since  they  \vere  undis- 
turbed in  their  religious  worship. 

The  system  of  common  property  with  which  the  colony  began 
had  occasioned  some  discontent,  and  had  not  encouraged  industry.  It 
was  therefore  agreed  in  1623  that  each  family  should  plant  for  itself. 
This  plan  proved  more  satisfactory,  and  men,  women,  and  children  went 
into  the  field  to  work.  The  next  year  land  was  assigned  in  perpetual 
fee  to  each  head  of  a  family,  which  led  to  still  more  favorable  results. 
In  that  year  they  planted  sufficient  to  yield  them  a  fair  supply  of  corn 
and  vegetables,  but  a  severe  drought  threatened  to  destroy  their  crop. 
From  the  middle  of  May  to  the  middle  of  July  not  a  drop  of  rain  fell, 
and  their  corn  was  so  dried  up  by  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun  on  the 
sandy  soil  that  they  began  to  despair  of  its  being  restored,  when  they 
were  blessed  by  repeated  showers,  and  the  crops  reyived,  and  they  were 
favored  with  a  plentiful  harvest.  The  rains  had  come  after  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  and  the  devout  Pilgrims  saw  in  this  the  special  inter- 
position of  Divine  Providence. 

The  poor  condition  of  the  colonists-  during  those  early  years  can 
hardly  be  conceived  at  the  present  day.  They  were  poorly  housed,  their 
furniture  was  rude  and  scanty,  their  comforts  none.  They  pounded  their 
little  supply  of  corn  in  mortars,  having  no  means  to  erect  either  wind- 
mills or  water-mills.  It  was  not  till  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  that 
they  had  any  cattle,  and  then  only  four  were  brought.  During  most  of 
the  time  up  to  this  period  spring  water  was  their  only  drink,  and  when 
this,  with  a  small  piece  of  fish  without  bread,  was  the  best  entertain- 
ment they  could  offer  the  friends  who  came  to  join  them,  we  may  well 
imagine  how  sad  was  the  welcome. 


XXIII. 

DISAGREEABLE  NEIGHBORS -MILES  STANDISH 

AND   THE   INDIANS. 


HE  Pilgrims  commenced  their  intercourse  with  the  natives 
in  a  friendly  spirit,  and  with  a  purpose  to  treat  them 
justly,  though  always  without  fear.  As  already  related, 
at  the  first  interview  with  the  natives,  after  the  friend- 
ly greeting  of  Samoset,  they  had  formed  the  memorable 
treaty  with  Massasoit,  which  was  faithfully  observed  by 
that  chief  and  his  followers  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and 
the  obligations  of  which  were  as  faithfully  kept  by  the 
colonists.  All  the  tribes  or  families  with  which  Massasoit  had  influ- 
ence were  also  induced  to  enter  into  like  friendly  relations  with  the 
settlers,  and  soon  began  to  trade  with  them.  As  the  natives  became 
accustomed  to  articles  which  they  could  obtain  only  from  the  English, 
they  were  eager  for  traffic;  and  when  the  settlers  raised  a  surplus  of 
corn,  they  neglected  their  own  poorly-tilled  fields,  preferring  to  trade 
for  corn  with  furs  and  game  rather  than  resort  to  irksome  toil.  With 
a  natural  propensity  for  thieving,  some  of  them  stole  the  articles  they 
coveted  —  an  offence  which  the  colonists  found  it  necessary  to  prevent 
by  occasional  punishment. 

Some  of  the  more  remote  tribes,  however,  were  less  disposed  to  be 
friendly.  The  Narragansetts,  inhabiting  the  region  about  the  bay  of  that 
name,  were  a  powerful  tribe  which  had  not  suffered  from  the  pestilence 
that  had  swept  away  those  dwelling  near  the  shores  of  Massachusetts 
Bay.  They  were  the  enemies  of  Massasoit,  and  that  sachem  was  induced 
to  form  the  alliance  with  the  settlers  at  Plymouth,  in  part  at  least,  for 

220 


ADVENTURERS  AT  WESSAGUSSET.  221 

the  sake  of  strengthening  himself  against  those  formidable  foes.  Canoni- 
cus,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansetts,  at  first  desired  to  establish  friendly 
relations  with  the  white  strangers,  but  because  of  their  alliance  with 
Massasoit,  or  for  some  other  reason,  he  changed  his  mind,  and  as  a 
token  of  hostility  he  sent  to  Plymouth  a  bundle  of  arrows  wrapped  in 
the  skin  of  a  rattlesnake.  The  settlers  had  the  spirit  of  Englishmen, 
and,  whatever  alarm  they  may  have  felt,  were  not  to  be  intimidated  by 
any  such  threat  of  war.  Governor  Bradford  therefore  stuffed  the  skin 
with  powder  and  shot,  and  sent  it  back  to  the  hostile  chief,  who  knew 
something  of  these  terrible  weapons  of  the  whites,  and  had  such  a  whole- 
some fear  of  them  that  he  again  changed  his  mind.  He  would  not 
receive  the  bullets,  fearful  that  they  might  kill  or  wound  him,  and  they 
were  moved  about  from  place  to  place  till  at  last  they  were  returned 
to  the  colony. 

While  the  Pilgrims  took  great  pains  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
natives,  another  company  of  trading  adventurers,  less  scrupulous,  got  into 
a  quarrel  with  them,  which  led  to  the  shedding  of  Indian  blood  by  a 
party  of  Plymouth  settlers.  Thomas  Weston,  a  "  merchant  adventurer  " 
of  London,  and  a  prominent  member  of  the  Company  by  whose  aid  the 
Pilgrims  had  come  to  America,  enlisted  in  the  enterprise  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  trade.  Before  the  Pilgrims  left  England  he  became  dis- 
gusted with  them  because  they  thought  more  of  their  religious  princi- 
ples than  they  did  of  the  profits  of  trade,  and  when  the  Mayflower 
returned  without  a  cargo,  he  abandoned  that  enterprise  and  started  an- 
other. Obtaining  a  grant,  he  organized  a  company  of  reckless  adven- 
turers and  "roughs,"  picked  up  from  the  streets  of  London,  and,  in  1622, 
sent  them  to  establish  a  trading-post  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts 
Bay.  They  came  in  two  vessels  and  landed  at  Plymouth,  the  larger 
ship  proceeding  on  a  further  trading-voyage,  while  the  smaller  remained 
for  the  use  of  the  Company.  The  Pilgrims  received  them  with  hospi- 
tality; but  when  their  character  became  known,  and  they  showed  an 
aptitude  for  profane  swearing  and  an  aversion  to  all  honest  labor,  while 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  take  a  liberal  share  of  green  corn  from  the 
common  garden,  the  pious  and  industrious  settlers  were  scandalized, 
and  were  glad  to  be  rid  of  them.  They  went  shortly  to  a  place  already 
selected  as  a  proper  site  for  establishing  a  trading-post,  in  what  is  now 
Weymouth,  then  called  Wessagusset. 


222  DISAGREEABLE   NEIGHBORS. 

Without  thrift  or  any  other  virtue,  this  reckless  company  soon  found 
that  they  had  wasted  the  fair  supply  of  provisions  which  they  had  brought, 
and,  with  winter  before  them,  they  were  almost  destitute  of  food.  In  this 
strait  they  applied  to  the  Plymouth  colonists  to  join  them  in  an  expe- 
dition in  their  small  vessel  to  traffic  with  the  Indians  for  corn.  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  and  his  associates  willingly  accepted  the  proposition,  as 
they  also  were  short  of  supplies;  and  accordingly  they  furnished  the  active 
capital  for  trade  in  the  shape  of  knives  and  trinkets,  while  the  Weymouth 
or  Weston's  people  furnished  the  vessel,  Standish  taking  command  of 
•the  expedition.  It  was  intended  to  go  southward  towards  Virginia,  where 
corn  was  known  to  be  more  plenty,  but  the  boisterous  seas  outside  of 
Cape  Cod  deterred  them.  Standish  was  taken  sick  with  a  fever,  and  the 
Indian  Squanto,  who  accompanied  them  as  guide  and  interpreter,  died. 
They  succeeded,  however,  in  obtaining  twenty-six  hogsheads  of  unshelled 
corn  and  beans,  which  were  equally  divided  between  the  two  settle- 
ments. 

This  supply  was  but  a  temporary  relief  to  either,  and  especially  to 
Weston's  men,  who,  regardless  of  the  danger  of  famine,  squandered  what 
little  they  had,  and  were  soon  dependent  upon  what  they  could  obtain 
from  the  natives.  They  bartered  everything  they  had  for  food,  and  even 
stripped  their  clothes  from  their  backs  and  the  blankets  from  their  beds. 
Forced  at  last  to  work,  they  made  canoes  for  the  Indians  in  order  to 
obtain  a  pitiful  subsistence.  For  lack  of  ammunition  they  could  shoot 
no  game.  They  dug  a  few  clams  and  muscles,  they  searched  the  woods 
for  nuts  and  roots,  and  were  glad  enough  to  shelter  their  shivering 
bodies  in  the  cabins  of  the  Indians,  and  to  swallow  such  pittance  of 
parched  corn  or  porridge  as  might  be  offered  them.  And  they  did  not 
always  show  gratitude  for  the  favors  received,  but  while  they  begged 
for  alms  from  the  needy  Indian,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  abuse  him. 
Like  "  tramps  "  of  a  later  day,  they  would  steal  as  well  as  beg,  and  the 
little  stores  of  corn  which  the  natives  had  carefully  hidden  would  some- 
times disappear. 

Familiarity  bred  contempt,  and  outrage  excited  hostility.  Beggarly 
whites,  crouching  in  their  cabins,  ceased  to  be  objects  of  respect  or 
fear  to  the  natives,  and  thieving  adventurers  soon  found  cabin  and  hand 
closed  against  them.  In  their  desperation  the  settlers  resolved  to  have 


ALLEGED   VICARIOUS  HANGING.  223 

recourse  to  violence.  But  they  did  not  dare  to  undertake  such  a  dan- 
gerous exploit  alone,  and  therefore  sent  a  message  to  Plymouth,  pro- 
posing to  Governor  Bradford  to  join  them  in  taking  what  food  they 
wanted  from  the  Indians  by  force.  The  Pilgrims,  however,  were  not 
the  men  to  approve  of  such  a  nefarious  piece  of  business,  and  though 
they  were  suffering,  too,  for  want  of  sufficient  supplies,  they  replied 
that  the  Weymouth  settlers  could  expect  no  support  from  them.  They 
advised  them  to  worry  through  the  winter,  living  on  nuts  and  shell-fish, 
as  they  were  themselves  obliged  to  do.  The  hostile  demonstration  was 
therefore  per  force  abandoned,  but  secret  depredations  were  continued. 

Meanwhile  the  Indians,  seeing  the  weakness  of  the  demoralized  set- 
tlers, grew  aggressive.  They  retaliated  for  theft  by  robbery,  and  if  the 
sufferer  remonstrated,  they  threatened  him  with  their  knives.  One  of 
the  settlers,  having  committed  a  theft,  was  detected,  but  escaped  to  the 
block-house  of  the  settlement.  The  Indians  made  bitter  complaint  and 
threats,  and  the  settlers,  in  alarm,  offered  to  deliver  up  to  them  the 
culprit,  to  be  dealt  with  as  they  saw  fit.  But  the  savages  refused  to 
receive  him,  and  demanded  that  he  should  be  punished  by  his  own 
people.  The  unfortunate  man  was  accordingly  hanged  by  his  own  friends 
to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  natives,  and  nominally  to  satisfy  the  law 
of  England,  which  at  that  time  punished  like  offences  with  death.  The 
act  may  have  appeased  the  wrath  of  the  savages,  but  it  doubtless  in- 
creased their  contempt  for  the  settlers. 

This  execution  has  got  into  history  in  a  rather  ludicrous,  but  prob- 
ably unauthentic  form.  It  was  alleged  that  the  settlers  did  not  hang  the 
real  malefactor,  who  was  an  able-bodied  and  strong  man,  whom  they 
did  not  wish  to  lose,  and  whom  they  could  not  very  well  manage,  but 
took  an  old  and  sick  man,  and  dressing  him  in  the  clothes  of  the  cul- 
prit, hanged  him  instead.  This  absurd  fiction  originated  apparently  with 
Thomas  Morton,  of  unsavory  memory,  the  graceless  hero  of  "  Merry 
Mount,"  but  was  afterwards  repeated  by  sober  historians;  and  those 
who  disliked  the  Pilgrims  did  not  hesitate  to  ascribe  to  them  the  adop- 
tion of  this  mode  of  vicarious  punishment. 

The  punishment,  though  inflicted  at  their  demand,  did  not  satisfy 
the  Indians,  who  grew  more  hostile,  and  began  to  conspire  for  the 
destruction  not  only  of  Weston's  colony,  but  that  at  Plymouth  also. 


224 


DISAGREEABLE  NEIGHBORS. 


Massasoit,  faithful  to  his  treaty,  informed  the  Pilgrim  settlers  of  the 
threatening  danger,  and  the  Weymouth  people  learned  about  it  from  the 
indiscreet  babbling  of  an  Indian  woman.  Though  thus  forewarned,  the 
reckless  men  at  Weymouth  took  no  precautions  against  a  surprise,  but 
mingled  freely  with  the  savages  as  before.  One  man,  however,  named 
Pratt,  more  cautious  and  sensible  than  the  rest,  resolved  to  escape  to 
Plymouth.  This  was  no  easy  matter,  for  the  Indians  had  built  their 
cabins  on  all  sides,  and  it  was  difficult  to  elude  their  watchfulness, 
while,  if  he  were  caught  stealing  away,  he  would  soon  be  despatched. 

He  started  early  one  morning,  and  taking  a  hoe,  pretended  to  be 
digging  clams  until  he  felt  sure  that  he  was  not  specially  observed; 
he  then  hurried  into  the  woods  and  made  his  way  towards  Plymouth 
as  rapidly  as  the  hard  travelling  would  permit.  It  was  March,  and 
snow  still  lay  in  the  woods,  making  it  more  easy  for  pursuers  to  fol- 
low his  tracks.  The  sky  was  overcast,  and  he  lost  his  way;  but  he 
travelled  on  till  nightfall,  when,  cold  and  weary,  he  made  a  little  fire  in 
a  secluded  hollow,  and  lay  down  to  rest.  He  was  fearful  lest  the 
Indians  might  see  the  light  of  his  fire,  but  he  was  disturbed  by  noth- 
ing more  frightful  than  the  howling  of  the  wolves.  During  the  night 
the  sky  cleared,  and  seeing  the  north  star  he  got  his  bearings;  but  the 
next  day  the  sun  was  again  obscured,  and  he  was  unable  to  proceed, 
and  passed  another  night  in  his  hiding-place.  A  clear  sky  the  following 
day  cheered  his  drooping  spirits;  he  hurried  forward  as  fast  as  his 
failing  strength  permitted,  and  evening  found  him  safe  in  Plymouth,  but 
utterly  exhausted  by  his  difficult  and  perilous  journey.  And  he  was 
none  too  soon;  for  the  Indians  were  not  far  behind  him,  and  the  next 
morning  made  their  appearance  near  the  settlement. 

The  tidings  brought  by  Pratt  confirmed  the  information  previously 
received  by  the  people  of  Plymouth.  But  they  had  already  considered 
the  matter  in  council,  and  determined  to  act  promptly  and  vigorously 
against  the  hostile  savages.  Captain  Miles  Standish  was  authorized  to 
take  such  number  of  men  as  he  deemed  necessary  and  proceed  to  Wey- 
mouth, where  he  would  act  according  to  his  judgment.  Standish  had 
already  had  some  experience  with  the  Indians  who  meditated  hostility 
when  he  went  to  counteract  the  schemes  of  Corbitant,  as  already  related, 
and  he  had  no  very  exalted  opinion  of  their  real  bravery  or  ability  to 


A   DEFIANT  INDIAN  BEGGAR. 


225 


cope  with  well-armed  whites.  He  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to 
make  a  very  heavy  draft  upon  the  able-bodied  men  of  the  colony,  and 
taking  only  eight  men,  he  embarked  in  the  shallop  and  sailed  to  meet 
the  Indian  host. 

Reaching  Weymouth,  Standish  found  the  vessel  belonging  to  Wes- 
ton's  settlers  utterly  deserted.  A  musket  was  fired  as  a  signal,  and 
attracted  the  attention  of  a  few  half-starved  men  who  were  searching  for 
nuts,  and  they  hastened  to  the  shore.  Learning  that  the  principal  men 
of  the  settlement  were  in  the  stockade,  Standish  landed  a'nd  proceeded 
thither.  After  a  brief  conference  with  them,  he  found  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  assume  command  and  reduce  the  chaos  to  some  degree  of 
order.  He  had  brought  with  him  a  small  quantity  of  corn  from  the 
stock  which  the  Pilgrims  had  reserved  for  seed,  and  limited  rations  were 
issued  to  all  the  half-starved  settlers.  He  then  insisted  on  some  sort  of 
discipline,  and  the  demoralized  adventurers  found  that  he  was  of  that 
sort  of  stuff  that  they  must  obey  and  that  they  might  rely  on.  Further 
steps  were  delayed  by  stormy  weather;  but  the  Indians,  observing  an 
unusual  state  of  things  at  the  stockade,  began  to  suspect  that  their 
hostile  designs  had  been  discovered,  and  their  chief,  Pecksuot,  came  in 
to  learn  what  were  the  intentions  of  the  whites.  Then  was  held  a 
memorable  interview,  the  friendly  Hobomok  acting  as  interpreter. 

The  wily  chief  at  first  concealed  his  hostile  feelings  under  preten- 
sions of  friendship, — 

"  Begging  for  blankets  and  knives,  but  mostly  for  muskets  and  powder, 
Kept  by  the  white  man,  they  said,  concealed,  with  the  plague,  in  his  cellars, 
Ready  to  be  let  loose,  and  destroy  his  brother,  the  red  man  ! " 

When  these  were  refused,  and  he  saw  by  the  bearing  of  Standish 
that  he  was  regarded  as  an  enemy,  he  became  defiant  and  boastful,  and, 
as  described  by  the  poet  Longfellow, — 

"  Then  he  unsheathed  his  knife,  and  whetting  the-blade  on  his  left  hand, 
Held  it  aloft,  and  displayed  a  woman's  face  on  the  handle, 
Saying,  with  bitter  expression  and  look  of  sinister  meaning,  — 
'  I  have  another  at  home,  with  the  face  of  a  man  on  the  handle ; 
By  and  by  they  shall  marry  ;  and  there  will  be  plenty  of  children  ! '  " 
NO.  VI.  29 


226  MILES  STAND  I SH  AND   THE  INDIANS. 

This  haughty  speech,  which  the  poet  has  rendered  in  language  no 
more  figurative  than  the  original,  was  understood  to  mean  war.  Standish, 
however,  was  by  no  means  alarmed,  and  in  fact  regarded  the  boasting  sav- 
age, spite  of  his  great  stature  and  fierce  looks,  with  feelings  akin  to  con- 
tempt. Although  Pecksuot  was  in  his  power,  and  might  have  been 
detained  as  a  prisoner,  he  suffered  him  to  depart.  The  detention  of 
their  chief  might  induce  the  Indians  to  keep  the  peace,  but  he  pro- 
posed to  strike  a  blow  which  should  terrify  them  into  lasting  submis- 
sion by  getting  as  many  of  them  as  he  could  into  his  power,  and  then 
to  kill  them  or  keep  them  "as  prisoners.  The  savage  was  therefore 
encouraged  to  come  again,  and  the  next  day  he  made  his  appearance 
with  his  brother  Wattawamat  and  several  other  Indians.  They  could 
not  have  come  with  any  hostile  purpose,  or  they  would  not  have  ven- 
tured to  enter  the  stockade  to  encounter  superior  numbers.  But  to 
Standish  it  seemed  a  fitting  time  to  strike  the  contemplated  blow. 
Like  Smith,  in  Virginia,  he  believed  in  bold  action  in  order  to 
intimidate  the  Indians;  and  to  take  them  unawares,  according  to  their 
own  mode  of  warfare,  seemed  the  most  effective  way.  Pecksuot,  Wat- 
tawamat, and  two  others  being  admitted  to  the  house  where  Standish 
and  his  men  were,  manifested  the  unfriendly  and  boasting  spirit  which 
Pecksuot  had  shown  the  day  before.  Suddenly  Standish  gave  a  precon- 
certed signal,  and  throwing  himself  upon  the  savage  chief,  seized  the 
famous  knife  which  had  given  point  to  the  speech  of  the  preceding  day, 

"  Plunged  it  into  his  heart,  and,  reeling  backward,  the  savage 
Fell  with  his  face  to  the  sky,  and  a  fiend-like  fierceness  upon  it." 

At  the  signal  the  door  was  closed,  and  the  Plymouth  men,  following 
the  example  of  Standish,  fell  upon  the  other  Indians.  The  latter  were 
taken  by  surprise,  but  defended  themselves  bravely,  and  a  hand-to-hand 
struggle  ensued.  Wattawamat  and  another  savage  were  finally  killed, 
and  the  fourth,  a  young  man,  was  overpowered  and  bound,  to  be  after- 
wards hanged.  Four  other  Indian  warriors  were  within  the  stockade  at 
the  time,  and  as  soon  as  the  struggle  within  the  house  was  known,  Wes- 
ton's  men  attacked  and  killed  two  of  them,  and  a  third  was  shot  by  the 
Plymouth  men.  One  succeeded  in  escaping,  and  gave  the  alarm  to  his 
countrymen. 


A  FIGHT  WITH  INDIANS.  227 

This  famous  deed  seems  to  have  been  an  act  of  treachery  on  the 
part  of  Standish,  more  after  the  mode  of  warfare  of  the  savages  than  of 
civilized  men.  But  the  circumstances  were  such,  so  weak  were  the  col- 
onists and  so  imminent  the  danger,  that  prompt,  bold,  and  decisive 
measures  were  necessary.  Standish  understood  the  treacherous  char- 
acter of  the  Indians,  and  knew  that  only  by  such  a  summary  and  bloody 
punishment  could  the  execution  of  their  hostile  designs  be  prevented, 
and  that  daring,  and  even  treachery,  were  the  most  certain  means  of 
inspiring  respect  and  fear.  At  that  time,  too,  the  warfare  of  the  civilized 
soldier  was  but  little  better  than  that  of  the  savage.  It  is,  therefore,  no 
very  dark  blot  on  the  fair  escutcheon  of  the  doughty  captain,  upon 
whom  was  devolved  the  defence  and  safety  of  the  colonists. 

When  the  warriors  within  the  stockade  were  thus  disposed  of, 
Standish,  leaving  some  Indian  women,  who  had  also  come  within  the 
enclosure,  in  charge  of  two  or  three  of  his  own  men  and  some  of  the 
Weymouth  settlers,  took  the  rest  of  the  combined  force,  and  marched 
out  in  pursuit  of  the  other  natives,  who  by  this  time  had  been  thor- 
oughly alarmed.  He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  a  file  of  Indians  was 
seen  hurrying  forward  to  gain  a  slight  eminence  near  by.  Standish 
pressed  forward  to  gain  the  same  vantage  ground,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  it  first.  The  Indians,  foiled  in  their  attempt  to  reach  this  place, 
sheltered  themselves  behind  the  trees,  and  — 

"  Straight  there  arose  from  the  forest  the  awful  sound  of  the  war-whoop, 
And,  like  a  flurry  of  snow  on  the  whistling  wind  of  December, 
Swift,  and  sudden,  and  keen,  came  a  flight  of  feathery  arrows." 

A  volley  of  musketry  responded  to  this  greeting  of  the  ruder  weap- 
ons of  the  natives,  and  then,  with  Hobomok,  the  friendly  Indian,  in 
advance,  the  whites  rushed  forward.  The  fleet-footed  Indians  fled  to  a 
neighboring  swamp,  into  the  thickets  of  which  it  was  impossible  to 
follow  them  with  advantage,  and  finding  the  pursuit  useless,  Standish 
returned  to  the  stockade.  The  Indian  women  were  then  set  at  liberty, 
and  the  young  warrior  who  had  come  with  Pecksuot  was  hanged. 

Thus  ended  the  first  contest  of  the  Plymouth  settlers  with  the  In- 
dians. The  number  of  natives  enlisted  in  the  plot  of  Pecksuot  was 
probably  not  very  large,  for  the  influence  of  Massasoit  retained  most  of 


228  MILES  STANDISH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 

those  inhabiting  this  region  in  peace,  and  hostilities  were  not  continued, 
the  occasion  which  had  provoked  them  soon  being  removed.  The 
Indians  justly  regarded  Weston's  colonists  as  at  once  robbers,  beggars, 
and  cowards,  and  they  were  therefore  disposed  to  avenge  their  wrongs, 
and  remove  what  to  them  was  a  nuisance.  The  bearing  and  action  of 
Standish  and  his  followers  soon  taught  them  that  the  Plymouth  men 
were  of  a  different  stamp.  When  the  Pilgrim  captain  first  appeared  at 
Weymouth,  his  short  stature  was  derided  by  the  insolent  and  defiant 
Pecksuot,  who  was  tall  and  athletic. 

"  He  is  a  little  man  ;  let  him  go  and  work  with  the  women  !  " 

was  the  style  in  which  he  spoke  of  Standish.  He  soon  found  that  the 
"  little  man  "  was  more  than  a  match  for  him,  and  his  followers  probably 
thought  with  Hobomok, — 

"Pecksuot  bragged  very  loud  of  his  courage,  his  strength,  and  his  stature, — 
Mocked  the  great  captain,  and  called  him  a  little  man ;  but  I  see  now 
Big  enough  have  you  been  to  lay  him  speechless  before  you  ! " 

While,  therefore,  the  Plymouth  people  did  not  wrong  the  Indians,  and 
cultivated  friendly  relations  with  them,  they  taught  them  also  that  in  war 
they  were  to  be  feared,  and,  by  a  vigorous  blow  at  the  right  time,  they 
secured  peace. 

Though  relieved  from  immediate  danger,  and  able,  by  a  reasonable 
display  of  courage  and  discretion,  to  hold  their  position  against  any  hos- 
tile force  of  Indians  that  was  likely  to  attack  them,  Weston's  adven- 
turers, thoroughly  demoralized  and  intimidated,  determined  to  abandon 
their  settlement.  Such  a  termination  of  the  enterprise  of  these  "  hea- 
thenish "  adventurers,  who  had  boasted  their  superiority  over  the  Plym- 
outh colony,  was  by  no  means  displeasing  to  the  Pilgrims,  and  Standish 
threw  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  departure,  but  aided  them  from 
his  small. stock  of  corn.  The  greater  part  of  them  embarked  in  their 
vessel  and  sailed  away  for  the  coast  of  Maine,  where  Weston  was  en- 
gaged in  other  enterprises;  and  the  others  went  with  Standish  to 
Plymouth.  Three  unfortunates  remained,  being  at  that  time  domesti- 
cated among  the  Indians.  It  was  afterwards  learned  that  they  were  all 
put  to  death. 


STANDISH  RETURNS  IN  TRIUMPH. 

When  Standish  returned  to  Plymouth  after  this,  "his  capital  exploit," 
he  carried  the  head  of  Wattawamat,  to  be  exposed  on  the  block-house 
as  a  terror  to  all  evil-disposed  Indians.  Arriving  safely,  he  landed,  and 
with  his  victorious  army  of  eight  men,  one  of  whom  bore  aloft  on  a  pole 
the  ghastly  trophy  of  the  expedition,  followed  by  the  refugees  from 
Weymouth,  he  marched  into  the  little  settlement  to  the  block-house, 
which  was  also  "meeting-house"  and  council  chamber.  Men,  women, 
and  children  came  out  to  welcome  the  victors,  not  with  noisy  rejoicings, 
but  with  silent  thanksgiving  for  their  safe  return,  and  fearful  gaze  at  the 
token  of  their  bloody  work.  Women  shuddered  as  they  beheld  the 
ghastly  head,  and  children  clung  closer  to  their  mothers,  while  the 
magistrates  with  solemn  look  followed  the  little  procession  to  the 
block-house.  Then,  after  due  religious  services,  the  trophy  was  placed 
upon  a  corner  of  the  block-house,  where  it  might  be  seen  by  all  Indian 
visitors,  and  be  a  warning  against  any  hostile  schemes. 

Though  the  pious  Pilgrims,  knowing  the  perils  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  could  not  but  approve  of  the  stern  measures  of  Standish,  their 
good  old  minister,  John  Robinson,  who  had  experienced  none  of  the 
hardships  or  dangers  of  a  life  in  the  wilderness,  surrounded  by  treach- 
erous and  cruel  savages,  was  greatly  disturbed  when  he  received  intelli- 
gence of  the  slaughter  at  Weymouth.  He  sent  a  letter  from  Leyden 
to  his  distant  flock,  gently  condemning  Standish  as  one  "  wanting  that 
tenderness  of  the  life  of  man  which  is  meet."  In  his  desire  to  save  the 
souls  of  the  heathen,  he  wrote,  K  O,  how  happy  a  thing  had  it  been  if 
you  had  converted  some  before  you  had  killed  any !  " 


XXIV. 

WINSLOW'S  VISIT   TO    MASSASOIT. 


IN  contrast  with  the  expedition  of  Standish  against  the 
Indians  at  Weymouth,  one  undertaken  by  Mr.  Edward 
Winslow,  shortly  before,  by  direction  of  Governor  Brad- 
ford, shows  another  phase  of  the  Pilgrim  character.  This 
was  a  visit  to  Massasoit  at  his  home  in  Pokanoket,  on 
which  occasion  the  old  sachem,  faithful  to  his  league, 
gave  information  of  the  plot  which  it  was  the  mission 
of  Standish  to  defeat  by  the  "  capital  exploit "  already 
related.  The  peaceful  errand  can  best  be  narrated  in  Winslow's  own 
words,  which  show  the  spirit  of  the  Plymouth  colonists  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  Indians. 

"  News  came  to  Plymouth  that  Massasoit  was  dangerously  sick,  and 
that  there  was  a  Dutch  ship  driven  upon  the  shore  near  his  house. 
Now,  it  being  the  manner  of  the  Indians  when  any,  especially  when 
persons  of  note  are  sick,  for  all  who  profess  friendship  to  them  to  visit 
them  in  their  extremity,  either  in  person  or  by  sending  others,  there- 
fore it  was  thought  meet  that,  as  we  had  ever  professed  friendship,  we 
should  manifest  it  by  observing  this,  their  laudable  custom,  and  the  rather 
because  we  desired  to  have  some  conference  with  the  Dutch.  The 
governor  laid  this  service  upon  me,  and  having  furnished  me  with  some 
cordials  to  administer  to  Massasoit,  I,  in  company  with  Mr.  Hamden  and 
Hobomok,  set  out,  and  lodged  the  first  night  at  Namasket,  where  we 
had  friendly  entertainment. 

'*  The  next  day,  about  one  o'clock,  we  came  to  a  ferry  in  Corbitant's 

230 


HOBOMOK'S  LAMENT. 

country,  where,  upon  discharge  of  my  gun,  divers  Indians  came  to  us 
from  a  house  not  far  distant.  They  told  us  that  Massasoit  was  dead, 
that  he  was  buried  that  day,  and  that  the  Dutch  would  be  gone  before 
we  could  reach  there,  they  having  hove  off  their  ship  already.  This 
news  greatly  damped  our  spirits,  and  Hobomok  was  so  disheartened 
that  he  desired  we  might  return  with  all  speed.  But  considering  that 
Massasoit  being  dead,  Corbitant  would  most  likely  succeed  him,  that 
we  were  not  above  three  miles  from  Mattapoiset,  his  dwelling-place, 
and  that  this  would  be  a  favorable  time  to  enter  into  more  friendly  terms 
with  him,  on  condition  Mr.  Hamden  and  Hobomok  would  accompany 
me,  I  resolved  to  proceed,  though  I  perceived  that  it  would  be  attended 
with  danger  in  respect  to  our  personal  safety. 

"  In  the  way,  Hobomok  manifested  a  troubled  spirit,  breaking  out 
in  the  following  language:  ( Neen  ivomasu  sagimus,  neen  ivomasu  sagi- 
musj  &c.  — ' My  loving  sachem!  my  loving  sachem!  many  have  I  known, 
but  never  any  like  thee.'  And  turning  to  me,  he  said,  'Whilst  I  live, 
I  shall  never  see  his  like  amongst  the  Indians;  he  was  no  liar;  he  was 
not  bloody  and  cruel,  like  other  Indians.  In  anger  and  passion  he  was 
soon  reclaimed,  easy  to  be  reconciled  towards  those  who  had  offended 
him,  ruled  by  reason,  not  scorning  the  advice  of  mean  men ;  governing 
his  men  better  with  few  strokes  than  others  did  with  many;  truly  lov- 
ing where  he  loved;  yea,  he  feared  the  English  had  not  a  faithful  friend 
left  among  the  Indians,'  &c.,  —  continuing  a  long  speech,  with  such  signs 
of  lamentation  and  unfeigned  sorrow  as  would  have  affected  the  hard- 
est heart. 

"At  length,  we  came  to  Mattapoiset;  but  Corbitant  was  not  at  home, 
he  having  gone  to  Pokanoket  to  visit  Massasoit.  The  squaw  sachem 
gave  us  friendly  entertainment.  Here  we  inquired  again  concerning  Mas- 
sasoit; they  thought  him  to  be  dead,  but  did  not  certainly  know.  Where- 
upon I  hired  one  to  go  with  all  expedition  to  Pokanoket,  that  we  might 
know  whether  he  was  living  or  not.  About  half  an  hour  before  sunset  the 
messenger  returned,  and  told  us  that  he  was  not  yet  dead,  though  there 
was  no  hope  we  should  find  him  living.  Upon  this  intelligence  we  were 
much  revived,  and  set  forward  with  all  speed.  It  was  late  at  night  when 
we  arrived. 

"  When  we  came  to  the  house,  we  found  it  so  full  of  men  that  we 


232 


WINSLOW'S  VISIT  TO  MASSASOIT. 


could  scarcely  get  in,  though  they  used  their  best  endeavors  to  make 
way  for  us.  We  found  them  in  the  midst  of  their  charms  for  him, 
making  such  a  noise  as  greatly  affected  those  of  us  who  were  well,  and 
therefore  was  not  likely  to  benefit  him  who  was  sick.  About  him  were 
six  or  eight  women,  who  chafed  his  limbs  to  keep  heat  in  him.  When 
they  had  made  an  end  of  their  charming,  one  told  him  that  his  friends, 
the  English,  were  come  to  see  him.  Having  understanding  left,  though 
his  sight  was  wholly  gone,,  he  asked  who  was  come.  They  told  him, 
Winslow.  He  desired  to  speak  with  me.  When  I  came  to  him,  he 
put  forth  his  hand,  and  I  took  it.  He  then  inquired,  '  Keen  WinslowV ' 
which  is  to  say,  'Art  thou  WinslowV  I  answered,  ^Ahhe',"1  that  is, 
'Yes.'  Then  he  said,  *  Malta  neen  -wouckanet  namen,  Winslow; '  that  is 
to  say,  '  O  Winslow,  I  shall  never  see  thee  again.'  I  then  called  Hobo- 
mok,  and  desired  him  to  tell  Massasoit  that  the  governor,  hearing  of  his 
sickness,  was  sorry;  and  though,  by  reason  of  much  business,  he  could 
not  come  himself,  yet  he  sent  me  with  such  things  as  he  thought  most 
likely  to  do  him  good  in  his  extremity,  and  that,  if  he  would  like  to  par- 
take of  it,  I  would  give  it  to  him.  He  desired  that  I  would.  I  then 
took  some  conserve  on  the  point  of  my  knife,  and  gave  it  to  him,  but 
could  scarce  get  it  through  his  teeth.  When  it  had  dissolved  in  his 
mouth,  he  swallowed  the  juice  of  it.  When  those  who  were  about  him 
saw  this,  they  rejoiced  greatly,  saying  that  he  had  not  swallowed  any-- 
thing  for  two  days  before.  His  mouth  was  exceedingly  furred,  and  his 
tongue  much  swollen.  I  washed  his  mouth,  and  scraped  his  tongue, 
after  which  I  gave  him  more  of  the  conserve,  which  he  swallowed  with 
more  readiness.  He  then  desired  to  drink.  I  dissolved  some  of  the 
conserve  in  water,  and  gave  it  to  him.  Within  half  an  hour  there  was 
a  visible  change  in  him.  Presently  his  sight  began  to  come.  I  gave 
him  more,  and  told  him  of  an  accident  we  had  met  with  in  breaking 
a  bottle  of  drink  the  governor  had  sent  him,  assuring  him  that  if  he 
would  send  any  of  his  men  to  Patuxet  (Plymouth),  I  would  send  for 
more.  I  also  told  him  that  I  would  send  for  chickens  to  make  him 
some  broth,  and  for  other  things,  which  I  knew  were  good  for  him, 
and  that  I  would  stay  till  the  messenger  returned,  if  he  desired.  This 
he  received  very  kindly,  and  appointed  some,  who  were  ready  to  go 
by  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  against  which  time  I  made  ready  a 
letter. 


MASSASOIT  RESTORED   TO  HEALTH.  233 

"  He  requested  that,  the  day  following,  I  would  take  my  gun  and  kill 
him  some  fowl,  and  make  him  some  pottage,  such  as  he  had  eaten  at 
Plymouth;  which  I  promised  to  do.  His  appetite  returning  before 
morning,  he  desired  me  to  make  him  some  broth  without  fowl  before  I 
went  out  to  hunt.  I  was  now  quite  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  I,  however, 
caused  a  woman  to  pound  some  corn,  put  it  into  some  water,  and  place 
it  over  the  fire.  When  the  day  broke,  we  went  out  to  seek  herbs;  but 
it  being  early  in  the  season,  we  could  find  none  except  strawberry 
leaves.  I  gathered  a  handful  of  them,  with  some  sassafras  root,  and 
put  them  into  the  porridge.  It  being  boiled,  I  strained  it  through  my 
handkerchief,  and  gave  him  at  least  a  pint,  which  he  liked  very  well. 
After  this  his  sight  mended  more  and  more,  and  he  took  some  rest.  We 
now  felt  constrained  to  thank  God  for  giving  his  blessing  to  such  raw 
and  ignorant  means.  It  now  appeared  evident  that  he  would  recover, 
and  all  of  them  acknowledged  us  as  the  instruments  of  his  preservation. 

"That  morning  he  caused  me  to  spend  in  going  from  one  to  another 
of  those  who  were  sick  in  town,  requesting  me  to  wash  their  mouths 
also,  and  to  give  to  each  of  them  some  of  the  same  that  I  gave  him. 
This  pains  I  willingly  took. 

"  The  messengers  which  had  been  sent  to  Plymouth  had  by  this 
time  returned;  but  Massasoit,  finding  himself  so  much  better,  would  not 
have  the  chickens  killed,  but  kept  them,  that  they  might  produce  more. 
Many,  whilst  we  were  there,  came  to  see  him,  some  of  them,  according 
to  their  account,  came  not  less  than  a  hundred  miles.  Upon  his  re- 
covery, he  said,  'Now  I  see  that  the  English  are  my  friends,  and  love 
me,  and  whilst  I  live  I  will  never  forget  this  kindness  which  they  have 
shown  me.'  While  we  were  there,  we  were  better  entertained  than  any 
other  strangers. 

"  As  we  were  about  to  come  away,  he  called  Hobomok  to  him,  and 
revealed  to  him  a  plot  the  Massachusetts  had  formed  to  destroy  the 
English.  He  told  him  that  several  other  tribes  were  confederate  with 
them;  that  he,  in  his  sickness,  had  been  earnestly  solicited  to  join  them, 
but  had  refused,  and  that  he  had  not  suffered  any  of  his  people  to  unite 
with  them.  He  advised  us  to  kill  the  men  of  Massachusetts,  who  were 
the  authors  of  this  intended  mischief.  When  we  took  leave  of  him,  he 

NO.  vi.  30 


234 


WINSLOWS   VISIT  TO  MASSASOIT. 


returned  many  thanks  to  the  governor,  and  expressed  much  gratitude  to 
us  for  our  labor  of  love.  So  did  all  who  were  about  him." 

As  related  in  preceding  pages,  the  Plymouth  colonists  acted  upon 
Massasoit's  advice,  though  not  to  the  extent  which  the  old  savage  sug- 
gested. The  Massachusetts  tribe,  decimated  by  the  pestilence  a  few 
years  before,  was  weak  in  numbers,  and  a  show  of  fearlessness  on  the 
part  of  the  whites,  and  the  killing  of  their  leaders,  were  sufficient  to 
prevent  further  hostile  schemes. 

Though  the  Plymouth  colonists  had  the  greatest  confidence  in 
Standish  as  their  sure  defence  in  time  of  danger,  their  policy  was, 
while  showing  the  savages  that  they  were  not  afraid,  to  avert  danger 
by  conciliating  them,  so  long  as  they  did  not  manifest  a  hostile  dispo- 
sition. .In  the  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  Winslow,  who  was  as  fear- 
less as  Standish,  though  of  a  gentler  disposition,  was  of  great  service. 
As  in  his  visit  to  Massasoit,  he  was  ever  ready  to  do  them  a  kindness, 
and  in  this,  as  well  as  in  his  more  important  and  public  services  to 
the  colony,  he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  of  its  leading  men.  The 
amicable  policy  commenced  under  such  auspices  made  it  easier  for 
Massasoit  to  observe  his  treaty,  and  Plymouth  was  undisturbed  by  In- 
dian hostilities  till  Philip,  the  restless  son  of  the  old  sachem,  at  last 
precipitated  his  terrible  war. 


XXV. 

MERRY    MOUNT.-STANDISH   SUPPRESSES 

A    NUISANCE. 


APTAIN  MILES  STANDISH  was  a  most  important 
and  serviceable  person  in  the  Plymouth  Colony.  He 
had  been  trained  as  a  soldier  in  Flanders,  was  brave, 
discreet,  and  ready  for  any  honorable  service.  Joining 
the  little  company  of  Pilgrims,  he  was  chosen  their  mil- 
itary officer,  or  captain,  to  take  charge  of  all  measures 
for  defence,  and  in  hostile  movements  to  have  command 
of  the  fighting  men.  That  he  possessed  all  the  requisites 

for  such  a  post  is  shown  by  the  incidents  already  related.     As,  in  Mr. 

Longfellow's   beautiful   poem,  his  friend  John  Alden  describes    him   to 

Priscilla,  — 

"He  was  a  gentleman  born,  could  trace  his  pedigree  plainly 
Back  to  Hugh  Standish  of  Duxbury  Hall,  in  Lancashire,  England, 
Who  was  the  son  of  Ralph,  and  the  grandson  of  Thurston  de  Standish  ; 
Heir  unto  vast  estates,  of  which  he  was  basely  defrauded.  — 

He  was  a  man  of  honor,  of  noble  and  generous  nature  ; 

Though  he  was  rough,  he  was  kindly;  she  knew  how  during  the  winter 

He  had  attended  the  sick,  with  a  hand  as  gentle  as  woman's ; 

Somewhat  hasty  and  hot,  he  could  not  deny  it,  and  headstrong, 

Stern  as  a  soldier  might  be,  but  hearty,  and  placable  always, 

Not  to  be  laughed  at  and  scorned,  because  he  was  little  of  stature ; 

For  he  was  great  of  heart,  magnanimous,  courtly,  courageous." 

235 


236  MERRY  MOUNT. 

In  1628,  Captain  Standish  was  called  upon  to  render  the  colony  a 
service  somewhat  different  from  that  performed  at  Weymouth.  but  one 
which  seemed  to  the  rigid  and  exemplary  Pilgrims  quite  as  important 
as  to  fight  the  Indians.  To  the  mere  soldier  it  might  not  have  seemed 
so  honorable  a  service;  but  Standish  was  a  magistrate,  and  shared  the 
feelings  of  his  associates,  while  he  was  ready  for  any  duty  which  he 
might  be  called  upon  to  perform. 

In  1625,  a  Captain  Wollaston,  with  several  associates  and  a  company 
of  hired  men,  arrived  in  Massachusetts  Bay  with  the  intention  of  estab- 
lishing a  trading-post,  and  he  selected  for  that  purpose  a  moderate  eleva- 
tion in  what  is  now  Quincy,  and  which  was  duly  named,  in  his  honor, 
Mount  Wollaston.  After  a  short  stay,  however,  Wollaston  and  one  of 
his  partners,  with  a  part  of  the  company,  departed  for  Virginia,  leaving 
a  Mr.  Fitcher  in  command.  One  of  the  company  who  remained  was 
Thomas  Morton,  a  man  of  good  education,  but  of  a  reckless  character 
and  vicious  habits.  He  had  been  a  barrister,  but  the  inns  of  court  prob- 
ably had  less  attraction  for  him  than  some  other  inns.  In  what  capacity 
he  had  come  to  America  does  not  appear,  but  the  capacity  in  which 
he  chose  to  appear  was  manifested  soon  after  Captain  Wollaston  left. 
The  rest  of  the  company  were  wild  and  dissolute  adventurers,  most  or 
all  of  whom  had  come  out  for  hire.  They  were  just  the  men  to  follow 
such  a  mischief-maker  as  Morton,  and  he  was  just  the  sort  of  dem- 
agogue to  court  and  pander  to  such  a  set  of  vagabonds.  He  soon  con- 
spired with  them  against  Fitcher,  deposed  him  from  command,  and 
drove  him  away  from  the  post  to  live  with  the  savages,  or  make  the 
best  of  his  way  to  Plymouth  or  elsewhere. 

Morton  now  became,  not  the  commander  of  the  company,  but  simply 
chief  of  the  vagabonds,  and  master  of  carousals,  which  seemed  to  be  the 
chief  purpose  of  the  existence  of  the  establishment.  The  name  of 
Mount  Wollaston  was  changed  to  Mare  Mount,  or  Merry  Mount,  and 
Morton's  efforts  were  directed  to  make  the  life  of  the  company  befitting 
the  name  of  the  place.  They  continued  to  trade  with  the  Indians  for 
beaver-skins,  but,  not  content  with  trading,  they  induced  the  natives, 
men  and  women,  to  join  in  their  revelry.  The  Indians,  obtaining  a 
taste  of  "  fire-water,"  soon  became  as  drunken  a  set  as  their  entertainers, 
and  the  scenes  of  debauchery  and  vice  which  sometimes  followed  may 


SCANDALOUS  PROCEEDINGS.  237 

be  imagined.  Near  the  house  Morton  erected  a  May-pole,  eighty  feet 
high,  and  crowned  with  the  antlers  of  a  deer.  To  this  he  would  fasten 
copies  of  ribald  verses,  of  which  he  was  the  author,  and  bringing  out  a 
cask  of  wine  or  stronger  drink,  he  would  conduct  the  unseemly  revels 
of  the  company. 

To  some  staid  and  pious  settlers  at  Weymouth,  who  had  succeeded 
Weston's  idle  crew,  and  a  few  others   scattered  about  on  the  shores  of 
Boston    Bay,  these    proceedings   were   scandalous,   and    the    Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth   heard   of  the   ungodly  revelry   with   disgust  and   indignation. 
But  soon  they  had  more  manifest  cause  of  complaint;  for  this  reckless 
company,  when  they  traded,  were  by  no  means  scrupulous  in  the  manner 
of  conducting  their  business,  and  in  exchange  for  beaver-skins  did  not 
hesitate  to  give  liquor,  fire-arms,  and  ammunition.     The  Indians,  having 
become  familiar  with  these  dangerous  articles  by  their  association  with 
the  revellers,  soon  had  a  special  desire  for  them,  and  were  unwilling  to 
trade  for  anything  else.     The  consequence  was  that  savages  were  prowl- 
ing about  the  woods  with  guns,  and  coming  near  the  exposed  dwellings 
of  solitary  settlers,  created  no  little  alarm.     With  liquor  inflaming  their 
brains,  and  fire-arms  in  their  hands,  these  savages  were  dangerous  vis- 
itors.    The  settlers  thus  exposed  sent  remonstrances  to  the  dwellers  on 
Merry  Mount,  but  these  were  received  by  Morton  and  his  confederates 
with  derision  and  insult.     He  found,  indeed,  that  with  these  articles  of 
traffic  he  could  drive   a  brisker   business   than  with  the  ordinary  trifles 
used  for  barter  with  the  Indians,  and  he  proposed  to  carry  it  on  upon  a 
larger  scale. 

The  settlers,  thus  exposed  to  the  dangers  created  by  the  reckless 
adventurers  of  Merry  Mount,  and  scandalized  by  their  wicked  practices, 
applied  to  the  Plymouth  colonists  for  aid.  The  Pilgrims,  who  had 
carefully  provided  against  furnishing  the  natives  with  fire-arms,  and  who 
were  shocked  at  the  rumors  of  the  vicious  life  led  by  Morton  and  his 
followers,  determined  to  abate  the  nuisance,  and  accordingly  sent  Miles 
Standish,  with  a  small  party  of  men,  to  perform  that  service.  His  mis- 
sion was  to  be  fulfilled  in  a  less  bloody  manner  than  that  to  subdue  the 
truculent  Pecksuot,  but  it  was  none  the  less  sternly  to  be  performed. 
Morton  at  this  time  was  at  Weymouth,  whither  he  sometimes  went, 
perhaps  to  enjoy  better  company  than  that  of  the  ignorant  knaves  who 


238  STANDISH  SUPPRESSES  A   NUISANCE. 

shared  his  revels,  and  perhaps  to  annoy  the  more  pious  settlers  by  his 
humorous  and  profane  talk  and  shameless  conduct;  but  he  seems  to 
have  withdrawn  to  Merry  Mount,  either  before  or  after  Standish  arrived 
at  Weymouth.  Thither  Standish  and  his  men  proceeded,  and  found  the 
offender  against  peace  and  decency  shut  up  with  his  followers  in  his 
house,  and  the  whole  company  appear  to  have  been  laying  in  a  good 
supply  of  "  Dutch  courage."  The  Pilgrim  account  thus  relates  what 
followed:  — 

"  So  they  resolved  to  take  Morton  by  force.  The  which  accordingly 
was  done;  but  they  found  him  to  stand  stifly  in  his  defence,  having 
made  fast  his  doors,  armed  his  consorts,  set  diverse  dishes  of  powder 
and  bullets  ready  on  ye  table;  and  if  they  had  not  been  over-armed  with 
drinke,  more  hurt  might  have  been  done.  They  somaned  him  to  yeeld, 
but  he  kept  his  house,  and  they  could  get  nothing  but  scofes  and  scorns 
from  him;  but  at  length,  fearing  they  would  doe  some  violence  to  y6 
house,  he  and  some  of  his  crue  came  out,  but  not  to  yeeld  but  to  shoote; 
but  they  were  so  steeld  with  drinke  as  their  peeces  were  too  heavie 
for  them;  him  selfe  with  a  carbine  (overcharged  and  allmost  half  fild 
with  powder  and  shote,  as  was  after  found)  had  thought  to  have  shot 
Captaine  Standish;  but  he  stept  to  him,  and  put  by  his  peece,  and  took 
him.  Neither  was  there  any  hurt  done  to  any  of  either  side  save  y'  one 
was  so  drunke  yl  he  rane  his  own  nose  upon  ye  point  of  a  sword  y'  was 
held  before  him  as  he  entred  y*  house;  but  he  lost  but  a  little  of  his 
hott  blood." 

Morton  himself —  not  a  very  veracious  chronicler  —  gave  a  quite 
different  account  of  the  affair,  and  after  his  usual  humorous  manner. 
In  his  book  called  the  "New  English  Canaan,"  he  wrote  that  the 
Plymouth  men  "  set  upon  "  him  at  Weymouth,  and  made  him  prisoner, 
"  that  they  might  send  him  for  England  (as  they  said)  there  to  suffer 
according  to  the  merit  of  the  fact,  which  they  intended  to  father  upon 
him."  The  captors,  according  to  Morton,  "  feasted  their  bodies  and  fell 
to  tippeling,"  while  he  abstained  from  eating  and  drinking  that  he  might 
be  more  watchful.  Six  persons  were  set  to  watch  him,  one  lying  on 
the  same  bed  with  him;  but  in  the  dead  of  night  he  arose  and  got 
through  the  second  door  notwithstanding  the  lock,  and  shut  it  with 
such  violence  that  it  awoke  the  sentinels. 


MORTON  DISPOSED  OF.  239 

"  The  word  which  was  given  with  an  alarm,"  continues  the  humorous 
Morton,  "was,  ' O,  he's  gon,  he's  gon;  what  shall  we  doe?  He's  gon.' 
The  rest  (halfe  asleep)  start  up  in  a  maze,  and  like  ranies,  ran  theire 
heads  one  at  another  full  butt  in  the  darke." 

Captain  Standish  is  said  to  have  torn  his  clothes  for  anger  "to  see 
the  empty  nest."  "  The  rest  were  eager  to  have  torne  theire  haire  from 
theire  heads,  but  it  was  so  short  that  it  would  give  them  no  hold." 
Morton  having  reached  Merry  Mount,  tells  how  Standish  and  his  eight 
men  appeared  "  before  the  denne  of  this  suppozed  monster,"  and  that 
"  to  save  the  effusion  of  so  much  worthy  bloud  as  would  have  issued  out 
of  the  vaynes  of  these  nine  worthies  of  New  Canaan,"  if  he  had  fired 
upon  them  through  his  port-holes,  he  "  was  content  to  yeeld  upon  quar- 
ter, and  did  capitulate  with  them."  But  he  had  no  sooner  opened  the 
door  than  Standish  and  the  rest  laid  hold  his  arms  and  "  fell  upon  him  as 
if  they  would  have  eaten  him."  By  this  "  outrageous  riot "  these  fierce 
assailants  made  themselves  masters  of  Merry  Mount. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  the  humorous  Morton's  account  of  his  cap- 
ture. As  he  was  the  originator  of  the  story  of  the  vicarious  hanging 
mentioned  in  a  preceding  page,  his  report  of  his  own  exploits  and  suf- 
ferings will  hardly  outweigh  the  sober  chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims. 

Morton  was  taken  to  Plymouth,  where  he  was  held  for  some  time, 
till  an  opportunity  offered  of  sending  him  to  England.  The  establish- 
ment at  Merry  Mount  was  broken  up,  and  the  dangerous  trade  in  liquor 
and  fire-arms  with  the  Indians  was  stopped.  Standish  had  rendered 
another  service  to  the  settlers,  bloodless  indeed,  but  perhaps  not  less 
important  than  the  foiling  of  the  schemes  of  Pecksuot  and  his  confed- 
erates; for  a  general  distribution  of  fire-arms  among  the  Indians  would 
have  made  them  more  formidable  and  more  disposed  to  hostilities. 
Morton,  however,  returned  to  Massachusetts,  and  gave  the  settlers 
some  further  trouble  and  anxiety,  but  he  was  again  summarily  dis- 
posed of. 

Miles  Standish,  as  the  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  Plymouth  col- 
ony, was  engaged  in  another  adventure,  in  which  he  came  near  shed- 
ding the  blood  of  some  of  his  countrymen,  but  which  fortunately 
resulted  in  nothing  but  hard  words,  with  no  laurels  for  the  doughty 


240        STANDISH  ASSERTS  THE  RIGHTS  OF  PLYMOUTH. 

captain.  The  Pilgrims,  in  1624,  sent  a  party  to  Cape  Ann  to  catch  and 
salt  fish,  and  this  party  then  constructed  a  fishing  stage  on  which  to  cure 
their  fares.  The  next  year,  when  a  like  party  went,  under  Standish, 
who  commanded  all  such  expeditions,  they  found  the  fishing  stage  in 
possession  of  some  strange  adventurers.  Standish,  with  the  spirit  of  a 
soldier,  peremptorily  demanded  possession  of  the  stage,  and  the  adven- 
turers as  peremptorily  refused  to  surrender  it,  and  barricading  it  with 
hogsheads,  avowed  their  intention  to  hold  it  at  any  cost.  Words  waxed 
hot  and  profane,  and  there  was  a  prospect  of  blows,  and  perhaps  blood- 
shed, when,  through  the  good  offices  of  Roger  Conant,  who  had  pre- 
viously been  with  the  Pilgrims,  the  dispute  was  settled  by  the  trespassers 
agreeing  to  build  another  fishing  stage.  Says  an  historian  not  friendly  to 
the  Plymouth  colony,  in  this  instance  at  least:  "A  little  chimney  is  soon 
fired;  so  was  the  Plymouth^  captain,  a  man  of  very  little  stature,  yet  of  a 
very  hot  and  angry  temper.  The  fire  of  his  passion  soon  kindled,  and, 
blown  up  into  a  flame  by  hot  words,  might  easily  have  consumed  all,  had 
it  not  been  seasonably  quenched."  * 

This  is  a  harsh  and  unjust  judgment  of  Standish,  and,  as  said  by  the 
friends  of  the  Plymouth  colony,  "  it  does  not  appear  that  his  conduct 
was  reprehensible.  He  acted  under  authority,  and  was  sent  to  enforce 
a  manifest  right."  "The  best  apology  for  Captain  Standish  is,  that  as 
a  soldier  he  had  been  accustomed  to  discipline  and  obedience;  that  he 
considered  himself  as  the  military  servant  of  the  colony,  and  received 
his  orders  from  the  governor  and  people." 

The  Plymouth  colonists  had  occasion  to  rid  themselves  of  two  other 
men  more  obnoxious  than  even  Morton,  though  in  a  different  way.  Ly- 
ford,  a  clergyman  of  the  established  Church,  came  to  Plymouth  to  be 
their  pastor,  though  his  religious  opinions  were  adverse  to  those  of  the 
Pilgrims.  He  found,  however,  one  hearty  sympathizer  in  John  Oldham, 
who  considered  the  Pilgrims  altogether  too  strict  in  their  notions  to  suit 
his  taste.  He  was  a  daring,  sensual,  and  passionate  man,  who  loved  his 
dinner  better  than  his  spiritual  good,  and  by  no  means  enjoyed  the  long 
prayers  and  sermons  of  the  pious  elders  of  Plymouth.  He  preferred 
the  reading  of  the  Prayer  Book,  and  the  jolly  life  which  was  not  incon- 

.  .  v 

«  Hubbard. 


IGNOMINIOUS  BANISHMENT  OF  OLDHAM.  241 

sistent  with  its   use,  as  in  Old  England,  and  he  joined  with  Lyford  in 
insisting  upon  its  use. 

When  the  Plymouth  elders  gave  Lyford  the  cold  shoulder,  he  found 
in  Oldham  a  stanch  supporter,  and  the  two  soon  began  to  stir  up  dis- 
sensions among  the  settlers  who  were  not  members  of  the  Plymouth 
church.  They  also  wrote  letters  to  England  ridiculing  and  defaming  the 
colonists.  Governor  Bradford,  hearing  of  this,  boarded  a  ship  about  to 
sail  and  examined  the  letters,  deeming  himself  justified  in  this  arbitrary 
proceeding  by  his  duty  to  the  colony.  Finding  what  the  character  of  the 
letters  was,  he  reserved  them  for  future  use.  Lyford  and  Oldham  were 
called  to  account,  and  the  letters  were  produced  against  them.  This 
seditious  conduct  was  not  to  be  tolerated,  and  the  Plymouth  fathers 
promptly  sent  them  away.  Oldham,  however,  having  been  pardoned  on 
account  of  professed  penitence,  returned  more  outspoken  and  malignant 
than  ever.  He  called  the  leading  men  of  the  colony  rebels  and  traitors, 
and  fiercely  denounced  the  magistrates  and  elders  to  their  face.  Being 
arrested  and  brought  before  the  council,  he  defied  the  grave  assembly  in 
the  most  violent  terms,  and  appealed  to  those  whom  he  supposed  to  be 
disaffected  to  show  their  courage  by  action.  "  Now  is  the  time,"  he 
cried;  "if  you  will  do  anything,  I  will  stand  by  you."  No  one  re- 
sponded to  this  appeal,  and  the  furious  disturber  of  the  peace  of  Plym- 
outh was  placed  in  confinement  till  his  wrath  should  have  time  to  cool. 
The  magistrates  meanwhile  considered  what  they  should  do  with  the 
offender,  and  at  the  suggestion  perhaps  of  Standish,  they  soon  determined 
that  he  should  be  ignominiously  banished  again.  Accordingly  two  files 
of  soldiers  were  formed,  and  Oldham  was  compelled  to  pass  between 
them,  each  soldier  being  ordered  to  give  him  a  thump  on  the  back  with 
the  butt  end  of  his  musket.  The  soldiers  obeyed  the  order  with  alac- 
rity, and  the  culprit  received  many  an  ignominious  "thump,"  admin- 
istered with  a  will,  as  he  passed  along  towards  the  shore,  where  he  was 
placed  in  a  boat,  with  a  warning  of  severer  punishment  if  he  ventured 
into  Plymouth  again. 

NO.    VII.  31 


XXVI. 

CHARTER   AND    GOVERNMENT   OF   THE 
PLYMOUTH    COLONY. 


|/—|  psl  HE  colonists  of  Plymouth  had  established  themselves  in 
'•/  :S  &4*  the  new  world,  and  exercised  self-government,  without 
any  charter  or  royal  patent.  But  the  year  after  their 
arrival,  through  the  influence  of  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges, 
who  took  a  deep  interest  in  colonizing  America,  a  patent 
was  granted  by  the  Council  of  Plymouth  to  John  Pierce, 
in  trust  for  the  colonists.  Pierce,  however,  looked  after 
his  own  interests  rather  than  those  of  the  settlers,  and 
being  ambitious  to  become  lord  proprietary,  and  to  hold  the  settlers 
as  tenants,  he  obtained  a  new  patent  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
colonists,  and  with  much  larger  powers.  To  avail  himself  of  his  antici- 
pated profits,  in  the  autumn  of  1622  and  the  beginning  of  1623,  he 
made  repeated  attempts  to  send  a  ship  to  New  England,  but  it  was 
forced  back  by-  storms.  In  the  last  attempt,  when  Pierce  himself  em- 
barked with  one  hundred  and  nine  persons,  the  vessel  was  nearly 
wrecked;  and,  discouraged  by  his  failures  and  his  losses,  he  was  glad 
to  assign  his  patent  to  the  company.  It  had  cost  him  fifty  pounds,  and 
he  transferred  it  for  five  hundred.  Another  ship  was  hired  to  trans- 
port the  passengers,  and  it  arrived  at  Plymouth  in  July,  1623.  A  small 
vessel  was  also  soon  after  built  to  remain  with  the  colony,  and  sent  over 
with  about  fifty  passengers  who  were  anxious  to  join  their  brethren. 

All   efforts  to   obtain  a  charter  from  the  king  failed,  but,  under   the 
grants  from  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  the  colonists,  though  they  had  no 

242 


CHARACTER  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE   COLONT.  243 

right  to  assume  a  separate  jurisdiction,  did  not  hesitate  to  exercise,  for 
the  public  weal,  the  rights  of  self-government.  They  made  laws  for  the 
punishment  of  offences,  and  for  minor  crimes  executed  them  without 
hesitation,  though  it  was  not  without  many  scruples  that  they  ventured 
to  inflict  capital  punishment.  Offences,  however,  were  not  frequent,  for 
among  their  small  numbers  there  were  but  few  lawless  adventurers. 

They  desired  that  none  should  come  who  were  not  in  sympathy 
with  their  religious  views.  At  one  time  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  under 
the  influence  of  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges,  who  was  a  bigoted  supporter  of 
the  Church  of  England,  sent  over  with  Robert  Gorges  a  clergyman  of  that 
church  with  somewhat  extraordinary  powers  to  supervise  religious  mat- 
ters in  the  colony.  That  clergyman,  however,  was  a  man  of  discretion, 
and,  though  he  remained  a  year  with  the  Pilgrims,  he  did  not  seek  to 
exercise  his  authority  or  to  make  any  trouble.  He  was  delighted  with 
the  country,  and  occupied  himself  in  writing  poor  verses  in  its  praise. 
Another  clergyman,  who,  by  his  open  hostility  to  the  Pilgrim  fathers, 
his  pernicious  teaching,  and  immoral  conduct,  became  exceedingly 
obnoxious,  was  driven  without  ceremony  from  the  colony. 

John  Robinson,  the  pious  and  excellent  pastor  who  had  led  his  flock 
from  persecution  in  England  to  the  more  tolerant  atmosphere  of  Hol- 
land, earnestly  desired  to  follow  the  early  settlers  to  Plymouth,  but  a 
faction  in  the  Council  of  Plymouth  had  persistently  opposed  his  going; 
and,  disappointed  in  his  most  ardent  hopes,  he  died  at  Leyden  in  1625. 
The  intelligence  of  his  death  was  received  with  the  deepest  sorrow,  for 
though  the  settlers  had  the  good  Elder  Brewster  with  them,  they  had 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  their  beloved  minister  should  join 
them.  Robinson's  wife  and  children,  however,  subsequently,  with  others 
of  the  original  flock,  joined  their  friends  at  Plymouth. 

The  growth  of  the  colony  was  exceedingly  slow.  The  lands  were 
not  fertile,  and  neither  the  country  nor  the  Pilgrims  encouraged  the  com- 
ing of  adventurers  and  fortune-hunters.  As  already  seen,  those  of  that  class 
planted  themselves  outside  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  Pilgrims. 
At  the  end  of  ten  years  there  were  not  more  than  three  hundred  per- 
sons in  the  colony.  But  though  few  in  numbers,  they  were  strong  in 
purpose  and  in  their  devotion  to  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Accustomed  to  toil  and  hardship,  they  endured  what  emigrants 


244     CHARTER  AND  GOVERNMENT  OF  PLYMOUTH  COLONT. 

of  more  luxurious  antecedents  never  could  have  survived.  Amid  adver- 
sity they  trusted  in  God,  and  toiled  on  patiently  and  hopefully.  Cold, 
famine,  sickness,  death,  seemed  to  pursue  them;  withered  crops  and 
houses  destroyed  by  fire*  brought  discouragement;  but,  rejoicing  in  the 
liberty  of  conscience,  they  took  deep  root  in  the  soil,  and  planted  there 
the  principles  of  self-government  under  which  a  nation  has  grown  up. 
The  frame  of  government  adopted  by  the  Pilgrims,  in  the  absence 
of  charter  provisions,  was  very  simple.  A  governor  was  chosen  by 
general  suffrage,  but  his  power  was  always  subordinate  to  the  will  of 
the  majority;  and,  by  Governor  Bradford's  desire,  a  council  of  five  was 
chosen,  and,  at  a  later  date,  seven  assistants,  to  share  the  responsibili- 
ties of  government,  —  the  governor  having  a  double  vote.  For  more 
than  eighteen  years  the  colony  was  a  pure  democracy,  the  whole  body 
of  male  inhabitants  meeting  together  to  pass  laws  and  to  decide  exec- 
utive and  judicial  questions.  When,  however,  the  population  materially 
increased,  and  the  settlements  were  scattered  over  a  wider  territory,  the 
representative  system  was  introduced,  and  each  settlement  sent  its  del- 
egates to  the  "general  court."  In  this  way  the  affairs  of  the  colony 
were  for  a  long  time  quietly  and  successfully  administered,  little  dis- 
turbed by  some  of  the  serious  questions  which  excited  the  people  of 
the  larger  colony  of  Massachusetts. 

*  When  Captain  Robert  Gorges  was  at  Plymouth,  some  of  the  sailors  from  his  ship  were 
on  shore  celebrating  Guy  Fawkes'  day,  November  5,  before  a  large  fire  in  one  of  the  houses. 
The  thatch  took  fire,  and,  rapidly  consuming  that  house,  extended  to  several  others,  which  were 
also  destroyed.  The  common  storehouse  narrowly  escaped,  and  the  colonists  were  thus  saved 
from  still  greater  suffering,  if  not  utter  ruin. 


XXVII. 

THE    PILGRIM   LEADERS. 


JlIE  most  prominent  men  among  the  Plymouth  colonists 
were  Carver,  Bradford,  Winslow,  Brewster,  Standish,  Al- 
lerton,  and  Hopkins.  The  Rev.  John  Robinson,  who  led 
the  Pilgrims  out  of  England  to  Holland,  remained  behind 
with  the  larger  part  of  his  people  when  the  little  com- 
pany of  emigrants  left  Leyden.  He  never  came  to 
Plymouth,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  settlers.  Those 
members  of  the  London  Company  who  supported  the 
established  church  opposed  his  coming;  and  in  the  place  of  this  beloved 
pastor  they  sent  Lyford,  who,  with  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  stirred 
up  dissension  and  got  himself  banished. 

John  Carver,  who  was  chosen  governor  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- 
flower, was  a  man  possessed  of  good  estate  in  England,  which  he  had 
freely  devoted  to  the  cause  of  a  purified  religion,  and  in  aid  of  those 
who  were  persecuted  for  espousing  it.  He  was  quiet  and  dignified  in 
bearing,  though  he  made  himself  a  co-laborer  with  his  people  and  a 
sharer  of  their  hardships  and  privations.  While  he  lived  he  was  a  father 
to  the  colonists,  for  whose  safety  and  welfare  he  faithfully  labored.  He 
did  not  live  long  to  serve  them,  for  in  the  April  following  the  landing 
he  was  stricken  with  sudden  illness  and  died.  He  was  buried  with 
such  honors  as  the  poor  settlers  could  bestow,  and  "  the  discharge  of 
some  volleys  of  shot  by  all  that  bore  arms." 

William  Bradford,  who  succeeded  Carver  as  governor,  was  a  younger 
man,  being  at  that  time  thirty-two  years  of  age.  He  had  been  bred  a 
farmer  in  Yorkshire,  and  had  few  advantages  of  early  education;  but  he 

245 


246  THE  PIL  GRIM  LEADERS. 

educated  himself,  mastering  several  languages,  and  becoming  fairly 
versed  in  history.  At  an  early  age  he  fell  in  with  Robinson  and  his 
friends,  and  adopted  their  religious  views.  He  joined  them  when  they 
fled  from  persecution  and  effected  their  escape  to  Holland,  and  he 
freely  used  his  limited  means  for  their  advantage.  He  was  a  man  of 
energy  and  sagacity,  and  from  the  inception  of  the  enterprise  of  coming 
to  America  did  good  service  by  his  advice  and  activity.  At  Plymouth 
he  was  brave,  prompt,  and  firm.  He  showed  a  bold  front  to  the  Indians, 
and  he  suppressed  any  turbulent  or  unruly  spirit  which  manifested  itself 
in  the  colony.  Serving  many  years  as  governor,  he  proved  himself 
worthy  of  the  confidence  of  the  colonists,  for  whose  interests  he  at  all 
times  labored.  That  he  had  that  confidence  is  shown  by  their  action  in 
electing  him  governor  annually  as  long  as  he  lived,  with  the  exception 
of  five  years,  when  he  declined  an  election. 

Edward  Winslow  belonged  to  the  class  of  "  gentlemen  "  in  England, 
and  while  on  his  travels  over  Europe  he  first  met  Robinson  and  his 
Pilgrim  church  at  Leyden.  He  was  a  young  man,  being  but  twenty-four 
or  twenty-five  years  of  age  at  that  time,  but  he  found  in  the  teachings  of 
Robinson  that  which  appealed  to  his  heart  and  conscience,  and  he  joined 
the  church.  He  was  more  accomplished  as  a  scholar  than  his  associates, 
,  and  by  nature  he  possessed  an  address  which  adapted  him  to  various 
services  of  great  importance  to  the  infant  colony.  He  made  nearly  all 
the  negotiations  with  the  Indians,  in  whom  he  inspired  good  will,  and 
with  the  Company  and  government  in  England.  He  was  active,  too, 
and  made  frequent  journeys  into  the  wilderness,  visiting  Massasoit  in 
his  illness,  and  cheering  Roger  Williams  by  his  kindly  words.  He  also 
went  to  see  for  himself  the  fertile  valley  which  the  Indians  said  lay  at 
the  west,  and  he  thus  became  the  "  discoverer "  of  Connecticut.  He 
visited  England  a  number  of  times  on  business  for  the  colony,  and  while 
there  in  1635  he  was  imprisoned  by  Archbishop  Laud  because  he  had 
presumed  to  "  teach  "  in  the  church,  and  as  a  magistrate  had  performed 
the  ceremony  of  marriage,  which  the  archbishop  claimed  was  not  a  civil 
contract,  but  a  sacrament,  which  no  layman  could  perform. 

William  Brewster,  known  as  Elder  Brewster,  having  been  ruling 
elder  in  the  church  at  Leyden,  was  well  advanced  in  years  when  he 
came  over  in  the  Mayflower.  He  was  educated  at  Cambridge,  and  was 


BREWSTER.     STANDISH.    ALLERTON.     HOPKINS.  247 

afterwards  in  the  public  service  at  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  he 
was  a  man  of  larger  experience  in  worldly  affairs  than  most  of  his 
associates.  But  he  was  also  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  religion  which 
was  growing  up  in  opposition  to  the  English  hierarchy,  and  when  he 
left  his  public  employment  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Lincolnshire, 
where  he  organized  a  church  in  his  own  house.  Flying  from  persecu- 
tion to  Holland,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow-exiles.  When  he  came  to  New  England  as  elder 
he  was,  in  the  absence  of  the  pastor,  the  regular  preacher  of  the  Pil- 
grims, but  never  having  been  ordained  as  a  minister,  he  could  not  admin- 
ister the  sacrament,  and  for  years  the  Plymouth  people,  much  to  their 
sorrow,  were  compelled  to  forego  that  service.  After  a  long  and  faithful 
service,  in  which  his  tender  and  charitable  nature  was  never  rendered 
harsh  by  bigotry  nor  sullen  by  injustice  and  adversity,  he  died  at  a 
green  old  age. 

Miles  Standish  was  of  an  aristocratic  family  in  Lancashire,  but  for 
some  reason  had  been  deprived  of  his  estates.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  had  all  the  qualities  acquired  by  such  a  service. 
He  connected  himself  with  Robinson's  people  at  Leyden,  but  did  not 
join  the  church,  and  when  the  little  band  of  Pilgrims  started  for  the  new 
world,  he  was  ready  to  go  with  them  as  their  friend  and  servant.  His 
impetuous  courage,  somewhat  hasty  temper,  but  sterling  character,  have 
been  shown  in  events  narrated  in  preceding  pages.  He  was  of  the  ut- 
most service  to  the  colonists,  who  relied  greatly  on  his  skill  and  daring. 
His  boldness  was  the  safety  of  the  settlement,  and  he  promptly  per- 
formed whatever  duty  was  expected  of  him.  He  had  a  farm  at  Dux- 
bury,  near  Plymouth,  where  he  lived  quietly  when  not  serving  the  colony 
as  its  military  leader,  and  where  he  died  "well  in  years." 

Allerton  and  Hopkins  were  substantial  men,  who  were  prominent  in 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  Hopkins  was  a  magistrate, 
and  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Pilgrim  Church.  Allerton  was  a  man  of 
some  means,  and  was  disposed  to  look  sharply  after  his  own  affairs.  He 
went  to  England  on  various  errands  for  the  colony,  and  at  first  rendered 
good  service  in  these  missions,  but  at  last  it  was  found  that  he  was  more 
faithful  to  his  own  interests  than  to  those  of  the  colony. 


XXVIII. 

EARLY   SETTLERS   AROUND    MASSACHUSETTS 
BAY. -THE    PURITANS. 


FEW  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth, 
hardy  adventurers,  coming  over  in  trading  or  fishing 
vessels,  settled  at  various  points  about  Massachusetts 
or  Boston  Bay.  Some  of  them  were  men  of  little  char- 
acter, while  others  were  reputable  persons;  but  having 
little  sympathy  with  the  Plymouth  people,  they  preferred 
to  establish  themselves  apart  from  that  colony,  though 
they  were  quite  willing  to  receive  the  aid  of  the  Pil- 
grims in  time  of  need.  Two  men,  Lyford  and  Oldham,  who  had  been 
forced  to  leave  Plymouth  by  vote  of  the  people,  for  a  while  took  up 
their  residence  at  Nantasket.  Lyford  was  the  clergyman  already  men- 
tioned as  being  driven  out  because  of  his  opposition  to  the  Plymouth 
elders  and  his  immorality,  and  Oldham  was  a  disturber  of  the  peace 
by  opposing  the  civil  government  which  the  Pilgrims  had  established. 
They  afterwards  complained  of  persecution,  and  persuaded  some  persons 
to  believe  that  the  Pilgrims  were  intolerant,  arbitrary,  and  harsh.  They 
had,  however,  received  only  their  deserts  at  the  hands  of  those  whom 
they  opposed  and  annoyed.  After  remaining  a  short  time  at  Nantasket, 
they  and  some  others,  who  had  settled  near,  went  over  to  Cape  Ann, 
in  the  employment  of  an  English  company,  to  engage  in  fishing.  Among 
this  number  was  Roger  Conant,  a  man  who  had  left  Plymouth  voluntarily 
because  he  did  not  entirely  agree  with  the  Pilgrims.  The  fishing  enter- 
prise, not  proving  successful,  was  abandoned,  and  Conant  was  then  made 

248 


BLACKSTONE   OF  SHAWMUT.  249 

the  agent  of  a  company  of  non-conformists  and  Puritans  who  were  pre- 
paring to  emigrate.  In  1626,  he  and  three  others,  who  were  engaged 
to  hold  some  suitable  place  till  settlers  arrived,  selected  Naumkeag,  the 
Indian  name  of  Salem,  as  a  proper  site  for  a  settlement.  Here  they 
were  joined  by  other  individual  adventurers,  who  came  without  patent 
or  charter,  and  claimed  lands  by  right  of  possession;  and  when,  in  1628, 
Endicot  came  over  with  the  first  party  of  colonists,  he  was  welcomed  by 
a  number  of  these  pioneers  as  well  as  by  the  agent  of  his  company. 

When  a  few  of  Endicot's  colonists,  not  altogether  satisfied  with  a 
settlement  at  Naumkeag  without  further  exploration,  at  once  plunged 
into  the  forest,  and  travelled  till  they  came  to  the  neck  of  land  between 
the  Charles  and  Mystic  Rivers,  they  found  here,  too,  a  pioneer  before 
them.  An  adventurous  Englishman  had  taken  up  his  abode  here  and 
built  a  hut;  he  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  but  he  had  not  yet  found 
occasion  to  set  up  a  forge.  If  he  had  not  come  thither  to  escape  from 
fellowship  with  his  countrymen,  he  probably  welcomed  the  advent  of 
these  new  adventurers  and  the  larger  party  who  followed  the  next  year. 

Upon  the  peninsula  known  to  the  Indians  as  Shawmut,  now  Boston, 
some  years  before  the  English  arrived  at  Charlestown,  a  solitary  settler 
had  established  himself.  This  was  Mr.  William  Blackstone,  whose  name 
is  borne  in  respectful  memory  in  Boston.  It  is  supposed  that  he  came 
over  with  Robert  Gorges,  when  that  individual  came  with  the  intent 
of  planting  episcopacy  in  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Pilgrims.  He 
was  a  man  of  education,  and  had  been  ordained  as  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England;  but  he  was  a  non-conformist,  very  independent, 
and  withal  somewhat  eccentric,  and  not  finding  ecclesiastical  matters 
to  suit  him  either  in  England  or  among  the  Pilgrims,  he  retired  to  the 
pleasant  region  on  the  northern  side  of  the  peninsula  of  Shawmut,  oppo- 
site Charlestown,  and  constructed  a  house  where  he  might  live  undis- 
turbed by  the  religious  views  or  practices  of  any  one  else.  He  led  the 
life  of  a  recluse,  though  not  of  a  hermit,  and  he  laid  claim  to  the  whole 
of  the  peninsula  by  right  of  being  the  first  English  occupant.  When 
the  colonists  who  came  with  Winthrop  established  themselves  at  Charles- 
town,  Blackstone,  whether  from  motives  of  generosity  or  a  desire  to  dis- 
pose of  his  "estate"  and  retire  before  this  new  flood  of  civilization  and 
Puritanism,  invited  the  strangers  to  Shawmut,  where  there  were  "  sweet 

NO.  vu.  32 


250      EARLT  SETTLERS  AROUND  MASSACHUSETTS  BAT. 

and  pleasant  springs,"  and  good  land  "affording  rich  corn-fields  and  fruit- 
ful gardens."  The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  new  settlers  soon 
established  themselves  on  the  site  selected  by  Blackstone.  The  new 
colony,  which  had  a  higher  claim  to  the  territory  by  virtue  of  their 
patent  than  Blackstone  by  virtue  of  "squatter  sovereignty,"  liberally 
granted  him  fifty  acres,  and  admitted  him  as  a  freeman.  He,  however, 
did  not  long  remain  with  them,  but,  when  the  settlers  became  too 
numerous,  sold  his  possessions,  and  sought  another  home  in  the  wilder- 
ness, beyond  the  limits  of  the  patent  of  Massachusetts.  He  would  not 
join  the  Puritan  church,  saying,  "  I  left  England  because  I  did  not  like 
the  lord  bishops;  but  I  can't  join  with  you  because  I  would  not  be 
under  the  lord  brethren." 

On  Noddle's  Island  (now  East  Boston)  Samuel  Maverick  had  estab- 
lished himself,  and  not  feeling  safe  in  a  frail  house,  he  built  a  fort,  and 
mounted  guns  to  defend  himself  against  the  Indians.  How  long  he 
had  been  there  when  the  colonists  arrived  is  not  known.  He  was  a 
very  hospitable  man,  "giving  entertainment  to  all  comers  gratis." 
Maverick's  hospitality  seemed  to  trouble  the  Puritan  fathers,  as  he  was 
"  an  enemy  to  the  reformation  in  hand,  being  strong  for  the  lordly  pre- 
latical  power,"  and  in  1635  the  General  Court  ordered  that  he  should 
remove  with  his  family  to  Boston,  and  in  the  meantime  should  not  give 
entertainment  to  any  strangers  for  longer  times  than  one  night,  without 
leave  from  some  assistant.  This  order,  however,  was  subsequently 
revoked. 

At  other  points  about  the  shores  of  the  bay  solitary  pioneers  or 
small  parties  had  established  themselves  in  like  manner  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  They  were  not  of  the  stamp  of 
Morton  of  "  Merry  Mount,"  but  some  were  the  men  who  first  suffered 
from  that  nuisance,  and  sought  the  good  services  of  Captain  Miles 
Standish  in  abating  it.  If  not  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  Puritans, 
the)'  did  not  object  to  "casting  in  their  lot"  with  them. 

Though  these  scattered  adventurers  had  established  habitations,  more 
or  less  permanent,  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  first  coloni- 
zation of  this  region  was  by  the  company  led  by  Endicot.  The  com- 
pany of  merchants  who  had  employed  men  to  maintain  a  fishing 
station  at  Cape  Ann,  having  abandoned  an  enterprise  which,  after  a 


END  I  COT  AT  NA  UMKEA  G.  25  ! 

few  years'  trial,  had  proved  unremunerative,  some  members  of  the  com- 
pany, with  other  parties,  notably  the  Rev.  Mr.  White,  agitated  the  project 
of  planting  a  colony  there  for  a  different  and  higher  purpose.  The 
project  found  friends  among  the  Puritans,  who  desired,  like  the  Pilgrims, 
to  seek  a  home  in  New  England,  where  they  might  be  free  from  reli- 
gious persecution.  Among  those  who  early  enlisted  in  this  movement 
was  John  Enclicot,  and  by  his  influence  and  that  of  Mr.  White  and  a 
few  others,  a  grant  was  obtained  from  the  council  for  New  England. 
As  already  stated,  Conant,  holding  what  little  property  the  fishing  col- 
ony left,  remained,  with  three  associates,  when  the  establishment  at 
Cape  Ann  was  broken  up,  acting  as  agent  of  the  proposed  emigrants, 
and  selected  Naumkeag  as  a  better  place  for  a  settlement. 

The  company  in  England  being  organized,  and  having  secured  the 
grant,  which  extended  from  the  Charles  River  to  the  Merrimack,  sent 
Endicot  with  about  a  hundred  settlers,  including  women  and  children,  as 
the  pioneers  of  the  colony.  They  arrived  at  Naumkeag  in  September, 
1628,  and  finding  but  scanty  preparation  for  their  reception,  imme- 
diately set  themselves  at  work  to  build  houses.  A  few  of  the  col- 
onists, however,  not  satisfied  with  the  appearance  of  the  place,  pro- 
ceeded southwest  through  the  wilderness  till  they  came  to  the  neck 
of  land  between  the  Mystic  and  Charles  Rivers,  the  home  of  the  sol- 
itary blacksmith,  and  determined  to  settle  there.  Others  subsequently 
followed,  and  Charlestown  divided  the  honor  with  Salem  of  being  the 
first  place  of  settlement  for  the  new  colony. 

As  with  other  colonies,  the  settlers  suffered  not  a  little  from  hard- 
ship and  want  of  provisions.  Many  were  taken  sick  and  died,  while 
scurvy  had  reduced  others  to  a  miserable  condition.  So  great  was 
the  want  of  the  company  that  the  servants  were  released  from  their 
obligations  of  service,  that  they  might  provide  for  themselves,  and  they 
were  afterwards  made  freemen.  The  next  year,  however,  stores,  some 
cattle,  and  more  settlers  were  brought  over,  and  the  colonists  were  re- 
lieved. But  the  second  winter  was  also  one  of  suffering,  and  eighty  — 
or  nearly  one  half —  of  the  colonists  died. 

Endicot  received  instructions  in  detail  for  the  management  of  the 
colony  until  the  principal  part  of  the  company  should  emigrate.  The 
purport  of  all  was  that  he  should  secure  good  order,  punish  offences, 


252 


THE  PURITANS. 


exclude  persons  of  bad  character  who  might  by  any  chance  be  found 
among  the  settlers,  take  good  care  that  religious  exercises  should  be 
observed,  suppress  disputes  and  secure  harmony  in  religious  matters,  see 
that  no  wrong  or  injury  be  offered  to  the  natives,'  and  that,  if  they 
claimed  land  wanted  by  the  colonists,  they  should  be  paid  for  it.  In 
1629,  Endicot,  who  had  hitherto  acted  simply  as  agent  of  the  company, 
with  authority  to  do  certain  acts,  was  appointed  governor  of  the  planta- 
tion, with  more  extensive  powers. 

The  company  organized  for  the  colonization  of  Massachusetts  was 
composed  mostly  of  rigid  Calvinists.  Landed  on  the  shores  of  New 
England,  under  the  ministrations  of  Higginson  and  others,  they  consid- 
ered themselves  "the  chosen  emissaries  of  God;  outcasts  from  Eng- 
land, yet  favorites  with  Heaven;  destitute  of  security,  of  convenient 
food  and  shelter,  and  yet  blessed  beyond  all  mankind,  for  they  were 
the  depositaries  of  the  purest  truth,  and  the  selected  instruments  to 
kindle  in  the  wilderness  the  beacon  of  pure  religion,  of  which  the  un- 
dying light  should  not  only  penetrate  the  wigwams  of  the  heathen,  but 
spread  its  benignant  beams  across  the  darkness  of  the  whole  civilized 
world.  The  emigrants  were  not  so  much  a  body  politic  as  a  church  in 
the  wilderness,  with  no  benefactor  around  them  but  nature,  no  present 
sovereign  but  God."  "The  church  was  self-constituted.  It  did  not 
ask  the  assent  of  the  king,  or  recognize  him  as  its  head;  its  officers 
were  set  apart  and  ordained  among  themselves;  it  used  no  liturgy;  it 
rejected  unnecessary  ceremonies,  and  reduced  the  simplicity  of  Calvin 
to  a  still  plainer  standard."  * 

Among  the  company  were  a  few  who  were  not  prepared  to  assent 
to  the  new  and  independent  system  which  the  leading  Puritan  clergy, 
emancipated  from  the  restraint  imposed  and  persecutions  inflicted  upon 
them  in  England,  now  proclaimed.  They  had  joined  the  company 
without  any  condition,  and  without  any  purpose  of  abandoning  the 
Church  of  England,  and  they  were  not  disposed  to  relinquish  the  use 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  or  the  ordinances  of  religion  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed.  Prominent  among  these  adherents  to  the 
established  church  were  John  and  Samuel  Browne,  men  of  influence  in 
the  company  in  England,  the  interests  of  which  they  had  greatly  pro- 

*  Bancroft. 


ENDICOT'S  EARLY  INTOLERANCE. 

moted,  being  among  the  original  patentees.  They  were  sufficiently 
independent  to  resist  the  new  system,  which  they  believed  to  be  wrong, 
and  gathered  a  company  of  those  who  agreed  with  them  "  in  a  place 
distinct  from  the  public  assembly,"  and  there  made  use  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  These  proceedings  caused  some  disturbance  among 
the  settlers,  a  few  joining  the  Brownes  in  upholding  the  established 
church,  but  the  majority  condemning  them.  Endicot  summoned  the 
brothers  before  him,  and  a  wordy  conflict  ensued  between  them  and  the 
Puritan  ministers.  The  governor  and  council,  and  most  of  the  people, 
sided  with  the  ministers,  and  finding  the  two  brothers  "  to  be  of  high 
spirits,  and  their  speeches  and  practices  tending  to  mutiny  and.  faction,". 
Endicot  told  them  that  New  England  was  no  place  for  such  as  they,  and 
sent  them  both  back  to  old  England.  Thus  at  the  outset  the  colonists 
determined  that  theirs  should  be  a  Puritan  commonwealth,  and  the  spirit 
of  this  action  was  long  continued  in  the  administration  of  its  affairs. 

On  their  arrival  in  England,  the  Brownes  united  with  others  in  de- 
nouncing the  Puritan  colonists,  and  endeavored  to  obtain  a  revocation 
of  their  charter,  but  were  unsuccessful.  The  company  in  England  gave 
the  Brownes  an  impartial  hearing,  and  endeavored  to  smooth  the  troubled 
waters.  But  the  danger  that  the  Brownes,  aided  by  the  Church,  might 
succeed  in  their  efforts,  induced  the  company  to  address  a  letter  of  cau- 
tion to  the  ministers  at  Salem,  and  one  of  like  tenor  to  Endicot. 

Endicot  was  a  genuine  Puritan,  somewhat  in  advance  of  most  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  colony  in  his  extreme  aversion  to  the  English  Church, 
and  to  anything  that  savored  in  a  remote  degree  of  Popery.  Being  a 
soldier,  accustomed  to  command  and  to  act  in  emergencies,  he  was  ever 
ready  to  assume  responsibility  and  to  strike  at  any  act  or  any  person 
against  whom  his  rigid  Calvinism  found  cause  for  complaint.  His  quick 
temper,  coupled  with  his  military  habits,  sometimes  led  him  into  hasty 
action,  as  when  he  cut  the  red  cross  out  of  the  king's  colors  because  he 
could  not  endure  that  "  Popish  and  idolatrous  emblem."  But  he  was 
altogether  "a  fit  instrument  to  begin  this  wilderness  work,  of  courage 
bold,  undaunted,  yet  sociable,  and  of  a  cheerful  spirit,  loving  and  austere, 
applying  himself  to  either  as  occasion  served." 

The  safe  arrival  of  Endicot's  party  in  New  England,  and  the  accounts 
of  the  country  which  were  carried  back  to  the  mother  country,  gave  a 


254 


THE   PURITANS. 


new  impulse  to  the  purpose  of  emigration  among  those  who  felt  the 
pressure  of  the  English  hierarchy.  "  The  concession  of  the  Massachu- 
setts charter  seemed  to  the  Puritans  like  a  summons  from  Heaven, 
inviting  them  to  America.  There  the  gospel  might  be  taught  in  its 
purity;  and  the  works  of  nature  would  alone  be  the  safe  witnesses  of 
their  devotions."  A  large  number  from  Boston  and  other  parts  of  Lin- 
colnshire, from  Dorchester  and  from  London,  signified  their  desire 
to  emigrate,  and  preparations  were  made  to  send  out  several  ships 
with  these  emigrants,  and  ample  supplies  for  their  subsistence.  Many 
of  them  were  men  of  means,  and  the  greater  part  had  more  or  less  of 
this  world's  goods,  as  well  as  the  religious  spirit,  which  was  yet  more 
potent  to  sustain  them  in  their  undertaking. 

The  government  of  the  company  under  the  charter  was  organized  in 
England,  and  at  first  it  appears  to  have  been  the  purpose  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  colony  by  this  government  at  home.  But,  with  a  more  lib- 
eral spirit  than  had  actuated  those  who  had  hitherto  obtained  patents  and 
charters  for  the  colonization  of  America,  the  governor,  Matthew  Cradock, 
and  other  leading  men  of  the  company,  proposed  that  the  charter  should 
be  transferred  to  those  of  the  freemen  who  should  themselves  inhabit 
the  colony.  After  some  discussion  this  wise  course  was  adopted,  and 
it  was  declared,  by  general  consent,  that  the  government  and  charter 
should  be  settled  in  New  England.  An  agreement  had  already  been 
formed  between  men  of  fortune  and  education  that  they  would  them- 
selves embark  for  America  if  the  government  should  be  legally  trans- 
ferred to  them  and  the  other  freemen  of  the  company  who  should 
inhabit  the  plantation.  The  charter  was  accordingly  transferred,  and 
what  was  originally  a  commercial  corporation  only  was  thus  changed 
into  an  independent  provincial  government. 

John  Winthrop,  one  of  the  most  influential  of  those  agreeing  to  emi- 
grate, a  man  "  approved  for  piety,  liberality,  and  conduct,"  was  chosen 
governor,  and  the  board  of  assistants  and  other  officers  were  selected 
from  the  company  preparing  to  live  in  the  colony.  Winthrop  was  a 
firm  royalist,  and  had  hitherto  been  a  conformist,  but  he  loved  "  gospel 
purity  "  even  to  independency,  and  he  was  strong  in  his  regard  for  pop- 
ular liberties,  as  then  existing  in  England.  He  was  in  all  respects  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  the  position  to  which  he  was  called.  Humphrey, 


ARRIVAL    OF  WINTHROP'S  PARTT.  255 

who  was  chosen  deputy  governor,  at  the  last  moment  had  not  the 
courage  to  undertake  the  voyage,  and  Thomas  Dudley  was  chosen  in 
his  place;  for  the  government  was  in  good  faith  transferred  to  those 
who  should  emigrate. 

The  destitute  colonists  at  Charlestown  who  had  survived  the  winter 
watched  anxiously,  as  the  summer  came  with  its  unaccustomed  heat,  for 
the  coming  of  succor  from  their  friends  in  England.  Weak  from  sick- 
ness, and  their  provisions  nearly  exhausted,  a  gloomy  prospect  was  before 
them  should  that  succor  not  come.  At  last,  in  June,  they  were  glad- 
dened by  the  sight  of  sails  coming  up  between  the  green  islands  of  the 
harbor.  Winthrop,  with  eight  hundred  emigrants,  had  come;  and  they 
were  eagerly  welcomed,  not  to  the  hospitalities  of  the  needy  colonists, 
but  as  their  deliverers.  The  new-comers  were  obliged  to  furnish  food 
to  their  hosts. 

The  few  poor  houses  of  the  settlers  gave  little  hope  of  comfort  to 
those  who  had  left  pleasant  homes  in  England,  and  some  of  them  looked 
with  dismay  upon  the  cheerless  prospect  before  them.  But  no  time 
could  be  wasted  in  regrets,  and  their  religious  zeal  and  faith  in  the  des- 
tiny of  the  colony  under  the  guidance  of  Providence  did  not  suffer  them 
to  despair.  Places  for  settlement  were  at  once  sought,  and  the  large 
company  dividing,  selected  various  localities  for  their  future  habitations. 
One  party  went  to  Mystic,  or  Mcdford;  another  crossed  the  river  to 
share  with  Blackstone  his  domain  of  Shawmut,  and  in  honor  of  the  old 
English  town  from  which  most  of  them  came,  named  it  Boston;  others 
went  up  the  Charles  River  to  a  place  they  named  Watertown,  and  still 
others  to  the  territory  lying  south  of  Shawmut,  where  they  founded  the 
towns  of  Dorchester  and  Roxbury. 

With  the  selection  of  sites  for  their  plantations,  the  hardships  of  the 
settlers  commenced.  They  must  build  their  houses  in  the  wilderness, 
and  until  these  were  provided  they  were  obliged  to  live  in  tents  and 
poor  huts,  suffering  from  heats  which  to  them  were  excessive,  and  some- 
times for  want  of  good  water.  Many  of  them  had  been  accustomed  to 
plenty  and  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  competence  and  cultivated  life, 
and  the  struggle  with  the  unlooked-for  hardships  of  a  life  in  the  wil- 
derness was  to  them  fearful.  Women  who  had  never  before  known 
exposure,  discomfort,  and  want,  had  come,  with  an  earnest  devotion  to 


256 


THE  PURITANS. 


their  religion  and  a  firm  faith  in  their  husbands  or  fathers,  but  they 
were  dismayed  by  the  hardships  they  experienced,  or  had  not  physical 
strength  to  endure  the  privations,  discomforts,  and  suffering  to  which 
they  were  exposed.  Many  of  them  died,  and  sorrow  for  the  dead  and 
anxiety  for  the  living  caused  men  to  despond.  Sickness  was  every- 
where, and  before  December  more  than  two  hundred  had  died,  while 
another  hundred,  among  whom  were  some  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
colony  and  members  of  the  board  of  assistants,  were  so  disheartened 
that  they  returned  to  England.  The  desertion  of  these  men,  who  were 
looked  to  as  the  steadfast  friends  of  the  enterprise,  had  a  discouraging 
effect  on  some  of  the  settlers.  But  there  were  others  who  never  faltered, 
and  whose  fortitude  and  faith  in  the  cause  which  brought  them  hither 
increased  with  the  troubles  that  encompassed  them. 

Among  the  women  who  had  left  the  comforts  of  a  home  of  wealth  and 
refinement  was  Lady  Arabella  Johnson,  the  wife  of  Isaac  Johnson,  the 
largest  subscriber  to  the  stock  of  the  company,  and  "the  greatest  fur- 
therer  of  the  plantation."  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  <of  Lincoln, 
but  sharing  the  religious  opinions  of  her  husband,  she  willingly  came 
"  from  a  paradise  of  plenty  and  pleasure,  which  she  enjoyed  in  the  family 
of  a  noble  earldom,  into  a  wilderness  of  wants."  Her  faith,  however, 
was  unable  to  sustain  her  through  the  trials  she  encountered,  and  before 
the  summer  had  passed  she  died,  greatly  lamented.  Mr.  Johnson, 
broken  down  by  disease  and  sorrow  for  his  loss,  lived  but  a  month 
longer. 

Another  young  female,  whose  pious  resignation  in  her  sickness  was 
an  example  to  others,  and  an  exalted  type  of  the  spirit  of  the  colonists, 
was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Sharp.  She  is  mentioned  as  a  maiden  of 
"  unequalled  virtues,"  whose  death  "  was  too  serene  for  sorrow  and  too 
beautiful  for  fear."  Even  the  children  manifested  a  similar  spirit  of 
resignation  in  their  trials  and  sickness,  and  among  those  whose  deaths 
are  recorded  as  pre-eminently  worthy  of  pious  remembrance,  was  a 
daughter  of  one  John  Ruggles,  a  child  of  eleven  years,  "who,  in  the 
time  of  her  sickness,  expressed  to  her  minister,  and  to  those  about 
her,  so  much  faith  and  assurance  of  salvation  as  is  rarely  found  in  any 
of  that  age." 

Governor  Winthrop  lost  a  son  by  drowning,  but,  under  this  affliction, 


A   GOVERNMENT  ESTABLISHED. 


257 


and  the  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  so  many  of  those  who  had  come  over  with 
him,  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  who  had  remained  in  England,  "  I  thank  God 
I  like  so  well  to  be  here,  as  I  do  not  repent  of  my  coming.  I  would  not 
have  altered  my  course,  though  I  had  foreseen  all  these  afflictions.  I 
never  had  more  content  of  mind."  And  such  was  the  spirit  of  all  who 
remained.  They  were  fortunate  indeed  in  having  the  example  of  so 
excellent  a  governor  to  follow. 

The  first  winter  passed  drearily.  To  maintain  a  supply  of  provisions, 
it  was  necessary  to  send  a  small  vessel  to  obtain  corn  from  the  Indians 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Cape  Cod,  where  a  hundred  bushels  of  corn 
were  purchased.  A  vessel  also  opportunely  arrived  from  England, 
bringing  provisions.  But  though  their  supplies  were  limited,  they  were 
by  no  means  reduced  to  such  straits  as  were  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth 
or  the  early  settlers  at  Jamestown. 

The  colonists  had  come  to  New  England  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining purity  of  religion  and  civil  liberty,  and  they  early  took  measures 
to  establish  a  government  under  the  charter.  A  general  court  was  assem- 
bled in  October,  when  more  than  a  hundred  persons,  many  of  them  old 
planters,  but  members  of  no  church,  were  admitted  to  the  franchises  of 
the  corporation.  Though  anxious  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
and  jealous  of  the  encroachments  of  ambitious  rulers,  the  assembly  at  first 
elected  the  magistrates  for  an  unlimited  term,  with  power  to  choose  a  gov- 
ernor and  deputy  from  their  own  number,  the  people  only  reserving  the 
right  to  fill  vacancies.  But  early  the  next  year,  the  almost  unlimited 
power  conferred  upon  the  magistrates  was  revoked,  and  the  right  to 
make  such  changes  annually  as  they  saw  fit  was  reserved  to  the  people. 
At  the  same  time,  the  right  to  vote,  or  otherwise  participate  in  civil 
affairs,  being  limited  to  freemen,  "  to  the  end  the  body  of  the  commons 
may  be  preserved  of  honest  and  good  men,  it  was  ordered  and  agreed 
that  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of 
this  body  politic,  but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the  churches 
within  the  limits  of  the  same."  Thus  church  and  state  were  not  merely 
united,  but  were  in  effect  one.  The  government  was  an  aristocracy,  not 
of  wealth,  but  of  religion;  the  elect,  who  were  the  objects  of  divine 
love,  were  the  only  members  of  this  aristocracy,  but  the  humblest  ser- 
vant, if  a  member  of  a  church,  was  entitled  to  admission  to  its  privileges, 

NO.  vrr.  33 


THE  PURITANS. 

while  the  wealthiest  and  most  learned  and  experienced  in  civil  affairs, 
if  not  a  church-member,  was  excluded  from  any  share  even  in  the  choice 
of  magistrates.  Nor  was  this  inconsistent  with  the  love  of  civil  liberty 
which  the  colonists  professed,  for  the  maintenance  of  a  religious  com- 
monwealth was  their  primary  object,  and  to  secure  this  such  a  limitation 
of  privileges  was  necessary.  This  body  of  freemen  took  another  step 
in  advance  the  second  year,  and  claimed  the  right  to  elect  the  governor 
and  assistants  annually.  The  magistrates  yielded,  and  the  elective  gov- 
ernment being  thus  fully  established,  the  freemen,  intent  only  on  securing 
their  rights,  and  not  merely  seeking  a  change,  re-elected  the  magistrates, 
in  whom  they  had  all  confidence. 

The  first  terrible  year  of  hardship,  sickness,  and  death  was  passed, 
the  government  under  the  charter  was  established,  more  comfortable 
habitations  were  constructed,  and  the  several  plantations  were  perma- 
nently fixed.  Fifteen  hundred  emigrants  had  come  over  during  the  first 
year,  besides  those  who  had  come  with  Endicot.  But  death,  and  the 
departure  of  those  who  were  discouraged,  had  reduced  -the  number  by 
more  than  three  hundred,  and  the  reports  of  those  who  had  returned  to 
England  combined  with  other  causes  to  deter  others  from  emigrating; 
so  that  in  the  two  following  years  the  number  of  new-comers  did  not 
equal  the  diminution.  But  the  new  commonwealth  had  been  founded, 
and  a  hopeful  future  was  before  it. 

The  Massachusetts  colony  was  watched  with  intense  interest  by  a 
large  number  of  persons  of  the  middling  class  who  were  attached  to  the 
Puritan  faith,  and  desired  to  enjoy  civil  and  religious  liberty.  As  soon 
as  the  colony  was  fairly  established,  and  the  hardships  of  the  first  emi- 
grants were  no  longer  dwelt  upon  by  themselves  in  their  letters  to 
friends,  nor  magnified  by  the  enemies  of  the  Puritan  system  of  govern- 
ment, these  people  began  to  come  over,  and  a  steady  stream  of  emigra- 
tion continued  for  some  years;  in  one  year  not  less  than  three  thousand 
emigrants  arrived.  New  settlements  were  formed  at  various  points  along 
the  coast,  and  the  emigrants  began  to  penetrate  into  the  interior. 

One  of  the  first  parties  who  ventured  into  the  wilderness  back  from 
the  coast  was  a  little  band  who  established  themselves  at  Concord.  It 
was  but  a  short  journey,  scarcely  twenty  miles  from  Boston,  but  it  was 
accomplished  with  great  difficulty  by  the  emigrants,  who  were  all  unused 


A   JOURNET  INTO  THE   WILDERNESS.  259 

to  forest  life.  The  difficulties  of  this,  and  all  such  journeys  into  the 
interior,  and  the  founding  of  a  new  settlement,  are  told  by  a  writer  of 
the  olden  time,  as  follows:  — 

"  Upon  some  inquiry  of  the  Indians  who  lived  to  the  north-west  of 
the  bay,  one  Captaine  Simon  Willard,  being  acquainted  with  them,  by 
reason  of  his  trade,  became  a  chiefe  instrument  in  erecting  this  towne. 
The  land  they  purchase  of  the  Indians,  and  with  much  difficulties  trav- 
eling through  unknowne  woods,  and  through  watery  swamps,  they  dis- 
cover the  fitnesse  of  the  place,  sometimes  passing  through  the  Thickets, 
where  their  hands  are  forced  to  make  way  for  their  bodies'  passage,  and 
their  feete  clambering  over  the  crossed  Trees,  which  when  they  missed 
they  sunke  into  an  uncertainc  bottome  in  water,  and  wade  up  to  the 
knees,  tumbling  sometimes  higher  and  sometimes  lower;  wearied  with 
this  toile  they  at  end  of  this,  meete  with  a  scorching  plainc,  yet  not  so 
plaine  but  that  the  ragged  Bushes  scratch  their  legs  fouly  even  to  wear- 
ing their  stockings  to  their  bare  skin  in  two  or  three  houres;  if  they 
be  not  otherwise  well  defended  with  Bootes  or  Buskings  their  flesh  will 
be  torne  so  that  some  being  forced  to  passe  on  without  further  provision 
have  had  the  bloud  trickle  downe  at  every  step;  and  in  the  time  of  Sum- 
mer the  Sun  casts  such  a  reflecting  heate  from  the  sweet  Feme,  whose 
scent  is  very  strong,  so  that  some  herewith  have  beene  very  nere  fainting, 
although  very  able  bodies  to  undergoe  much  travell;  and  this  not  to  be 
indured  for  one  day,  but  for  many,  and  verily  did  not  the  Lord  incourage 
their  naturall  parts  with  hopes  of  some  new  and  strange  discovery, 
expecting  every  houre  to  see  some  new  arid  rare  sight  never  scene 
before,  they  were  never  able  to  hold  out,  and  breake  through. 

"Yet  farther  to  tell  of  the  hard  labours  this  people  found  in  Plant- 
ing this  Wildernesse,  after  some  dayes  spent  in  search,  toyling  in  the 
day  time  as  formerly  is  said,  like  true  Jacobites,  they  rest  them  on  the 
rocks  where  the  night  takes  them;  their  short  repast  is  some  small  pit- 
tance of  Bread,  if  it  hold  out,  but  as  for  Drinke  they  have  plenty,  the 
Countrey  being  well  watered  in  all  places  that  yet  are  found  out;  their 
farther  hardship  is  to  travell  sometimes  they  know  not  whether,  bewil- 
dered indeed  without  sight  of  Sun,  their  compasse  miscarrying  in 
crowding  through  the  Bushes,  they  sadly  search  up  and  down  for  a 
known  way,  the  Indians'  paths  being  not  above  one  foot  broad  so  that  a 


260  THE  PURITANS. 

man  may  travell  many  days  and  never  find  one.  This  intricate  worke 
no  whit  daunted  these  resolved  servants  of  Christ  to  goe  on  with  the 
worke  in  hand,  but  lying  in  the  open  aire,  while  the  watery  clouds  poure 
down  all  the  night  season,  and  sometimes  the  driving  snow  dissolving 
on  their  backs,  they  keep  their  wet  clothes  warme  with  a  continued 
fire,  till  the  renewed  morning  give  fresh  opportunity  of  further  travell ; 
after  they  have  thus  found  out  a  place  of  aboad,  they  burrow  themselves 
in  the  Earth  for  their  first  shelter  under  some  Hill-side,  casting  the  earth 
aloft  upon  Timber;  they  make  a  smoaky  fire  against  the  earth  at  the 
highest  side,  and  thus  these  poore  servants  of  Christ  provide  shelter  for 
themselves  their  Wives  and  little  ones,  keeping  off  the  short  showers 
from  their  Lodgings,  but  the  long  raines  penetrate  through,  to  their  great 
disturbance  in  the  night  season;  yet  in  these  poore  Wigwams  they  sing 
Psalmes,  pray  and  praise  their  God  till  they  can  provide  them  houses, 
which  ordinarily  was  not  wont  to  be  with  many  of  them,  till  the  Earth, 
by  the  Lord's  blessing  brought  forth  bread  to  feed  them,  their  Wives 
and  little  ones,  which  with  sore  labors  they  attaine,  every  one  that  can 
lift*a  howe  to  strike  it  into  the  earth  standing  stoutly  to  their  labors  and 
teare  up  the  Rootes  and  Bushes,  which  the  first  yeare  beares  them  a 
very  thin  crop  till  the  soard  of  the  earth  be  rotten,  and  therefore  they 
have  been  forced  to  cut  their  bread  very  thin  a  long  season." 

The  favorable  accounts  from  the  colony  soon  attracted  the  interest 
of  men  of  rank  who  had  some  sympathy  with  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  the  people,  and  some  of  them  prepared  to  emigrate.  One 
of  the  first  of  this  class  to  come  was  Henry  Vane,  a  man  of  great  abil- 
ity, noble  purposes,  and  spotless  integrity,  who  had  served  his  king 
in  positions  of  trust  and  honor,  and,  though  young,  was  already  distin- 
guished as  a  statesman.  A  friend  of  religious  liberty  and  the  rights  of 
the  people,  he  came  to  witness  and  enjoy  the  privileges  which  the  col- 
onists had  secured.  A  Puritan,  though  no  bigot,  "  he  forsook  the  pre- 
ferments of  the  court  of  Charles  for  the  ordinances  of  religion  in  their 
purity  in  New  England." 

Vane  did  not  come  with  the  purpose  of  remaining  permanently  and 
identifying  himself  with  the  colon)',  but  his  coming  was  hailed  with 
great  satisfaction  by  the  Puritan  colonists;  and  with  the  true  English 
regard  for  rank,  as  well  as  admiration  for  his  ability  and  adoption  of 


CONTROVERSIES  AND  PARTIES.  26i 

their  religious  creed,  when  the  next  annual  election  occurred  they  chose 
him  governor.  This  election  of  a  man  of  high  rank  to  the  chief  place 
in  the  colony  encouraged  the  members  of  the  nobility  who  had  been 
looking  towards  New  England  to  emigrate.  Among  these  were  Lord 
Say  and  Seal,  and  Lord  Brooke,  who  desired,  however,  before  coming, 
that  certain  changes  should  be  made  in  the  form  of  government,  by 
which  hereditary  privileges  might  be  secured  to  them.  The  freemen  of 
the  colony  desired  to  conciliate  these  noble  and  influential  friends,  and 
offered  to  make  them  magistrates  for  life,  but  they  declined  to  establish 
any  hereditary  magistracy  or  nobility.  Even  the  tenure  of  office  for  life 
was  soon  regarded  with  disfavor,  and,  as  such  appointments  had  been 
made  in  a  few  instances,  at  last  a  law  was  passed  providing  that  those 
who  were  appointed  magistrates  for  life  "  shall  yet  not  be  magistrates 
except  in  those  years  in  which  they  may  be  regularly  chosen  at  the 
annual  election."  One  change  desired  by  these  noblemen  was  ultimately 
adopted,  and  the  general  court  was  divided  into  two  branches,  —  the  one 
assistants  or  council,  and  the  other  the  deputies  or  representatives. 

The  early  settlers  of  Virginia  amused  themselves  with  games  at  bowls 
and  other  physical  sports;  but  in  Massachusetts,  while  people  of  "the 
baser  sort "  were  restrained  from  indulgence  in  profane  amusements, 
the  active  minds  among  the  leaders  were  excited  by  the  discussion  of 
abstruse  questions  of  religion.  Such  discussions  led  to  the  division  of 
the  people  into  parties,  and  controversies  somewhat  violent  were  carried 
on  concerning  the  profoundest,  and  yet  the  most  impractical,  questions 
which  speculative  religion  could  raise.  Such  discussion  led  to  more 
serious  dissensions.  On  the  one  side  were  the  original  settlers,  who 
had  founded  their  government  on  the  basis  of  the  church.  Church- 
members  were  the  only  freemen  under  that  frame  of  government,  and 
church-membership  could  only  be  obtained  by  an  exemplary  life  and 
the  consent  of  the  clergy.  On  the  other  side  were  the  more  recent 
comers,  who  had  no  special  regard  for  the  institutions  of  the  Puritan 
fathers,  but  were  advocates  of  the  freedom  of  religious  opinion.  They 
charged  the  government  and  its  supporters  with  being  priest-ridden,  and 
the  clergy  as  being  "  the  ushers  of  persecution." 

These  dissensions  were  brought  to  a  crisis  by  Anne  Hutchinson,  a 
woman  of  remarkable  ability,  who  had  imbibed  the  doctrines  of  religious 


262  THE  PURITANS. 

liberty  in  Europe,  and  proclaimed  them  with  great  eloquence.  Governor 
Vane,  who  had  also  come  to  New  England  with  liberal  views,  and  could  not 
wholly  identify  himself  with  the  Puritan  system  which  he  found  established, 
supported  Mrs.  Hutchinson;  and  then  the  differences  were  carried  into 
the  politics  of  the  colony.  The  clergy  united  in  defence  of  their  pre- 
rogatives and  in  opposition  to  Vane,  and  at  the  next  election,  after  a 
heated  contest,  Governor  Winthrop  and  others,  who  \vere  the  founders 
of  the  colony,  were  re-elected,  and  the  Puritan  commonwealth  was  .main- 
tained. Vane,  no  longer  acceptable  to  the  ruling  colonists,  returned  to 
England,  where  he  was  distinguished  for  his  exertions  in  the  cause  of 
civil  liberty,  —  a  cause  in  which  he  was  at  last  a  noble  martyr.  The 
Puritan  fathers,  re-established  in  authority,  did  not  long  delay  to  rid 
themselves  of  the  most  obnoxious  of  their  opponents,  as  narrated  on  a 
subsequent  page.  They  were  determined  first  of  all  to  maintain  their 
religion  in  its  purity,  the  chief  purpose  for  which  they  had  emigrated, 
and  with  an  intolerance  characteristic  of  the  age,  rathej  than  peculiar 
to  them,  they  excluded  all  who  did  not  agree  with  them. 


ENDICOT    CUTTING    DOWN    MORTON'S    MAY-POLE. 


XXIX. 

EARLY  PUNISHMENTS   OF   OBNOXIOUS 

PERSONS. 


HE  arrest  of  Thomas  Morton  of  "  Merry  Mount,"  and  his 
transportation  to  England  by  the  Plymouth  colonists,  has 
already  been  related.  The  first  Puritan  settlers  also  dealt 
a  blow  at  him.  When  Endicot  arrived  he  was  promptly 
informed  of  Morton's  May-pole  and  his  wicked  revels 
about  it.  The  existence  of  such  an  abomination  as  a 
May-pole  within  the  limits  of  the  Massachusetts  patent 
was  not  to  be  tolerated.  Endicot,  who  was  as  passionate  as  he  was 
pious,  was  especially  angry  that  such  a  wicked  device  of  Satan  should 
be  found  within  the  domain  placed  under  his  charge,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  destroy  it.  Taking  a  few  men  with  him,  he  proceeded  to 
Merry  Mount,  while  Morton  was  absent,  and  cut  down  the  offensive 
tree.  Two  or  three  of  Morton's  men,  and  a  few  natives,  lounging  idly 
near,  looked  on  in  amazement  at  this  demonstration ;  but  though  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Puritans  they  were  serving  Satan,  they  did  not  attempt 
to  defend  their  altar,  and  the  stern  Puritan  leader,  after  administering-  a 
sharp  rebuke,  departed  with  a  comfortable  sense  of  having  done  God 
service.  With  Endicot  on  one  side  and  Standish  on  the  other,  Merry 
Mount  was  not  a  comfortable  abode  for  evil-doers. 

But  the  irrepressible  Morton,  escaping  from  his  deserts  in  England, 
returned  again  to  Merry  Mount  soon  after  his  May-pole  fell  before  the 
wrath  of  Endicot,  and  commenced  again  his  reckless  intercourse  with 
the  Indians,  and  his  occasional  revels.  He  was  "a  proud,  insolent  man," 

263 


264  PUNISHMENTS  OF  OBNOXIOUS  PERSONS. 

and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  trespass  upon  the  rights  and  property  of  the 
settlers  who  came  over  with  Winthrop,  nor  to  abuse  the  Indians  upon 
the  slightest  provocation.  On  one  occasion,  when  a  party  of  Indians 
refused  or  neglected  to  bring  him  a  canoe  to  cross  a  river,  he  fired 
"hail  shot"  at  them,  wounding  some,  and  provoking  the  hostility  of  all. 
The  Indians  made  loud  complaint  to  the  magistrates  of  the  colony,  and 
those  settlers  who  had  suffered  at  his  hands  joined  in  demanding  his 
punishment.  A  party  of  men  were  accordingly  sent  to  arrest  him;  and 
to  satisfy  the  complainants,  and  the  Indians  especially,  and  to  prove  to 
them  that  the  magistrates  "  meant  to  do  justice  impartially,"  he  was 
bound  and  put  in  the  stocks,  and  his  house  at  Merry  Mount  was  burned 
to  the  ground.  Having  received  thus  much  of  punishment,  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  Indians,  and  somewhat  to  the  terror  of  the  Puritan  chil- 
dren who  gazed  with  awe  upon  the  culprit,  he  was  detained  as  a  pris- 
oner till  he  could  be  sent  again  to  England,  that  the  lord  chief  justice 
"  might  punish  him  capitally  for  fouler  misdemeanors  there  perpetrated." 

Although  sent  a  second  time  to  England  with  serious  charges  against 
him,  Morton  seems  to  have  escaped  punishment,  and  joined  with  the 
enemies  of  the  colony  in  their  efforts  to  injure  it.  He  then  wrote  his 
somewhat  famous  and  scurrilous  book,  the  "  New  English  Canaan,"  in 
which  he  misrepresented  and  defamed  the  colonists  of  both  Plymouth 
and  Massachusetts,  and  invented  the  story  of  the  vicarious  hanging,  which 
has  been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter,  and  other  equally  absurd 
statements.  Returning  to  New  England  in  1643,  after  an  absence  of 
thirteen  years,  he  was  called  to  account  for  his  hostility  to  the  colony. 
His  "  New  English  Canaan,"  and  an  abusive  letter  which  he  had  writ- 
ten, were  produced  as  evidence  against  him,  and  he  was  found  guilty 
of  defaming  and  injuring  the  colony,  and  was  imprisoned  for  a  year, 
and  fined  one  hundred  pounds.  Being  unable  to  pay  the  fine,  he  was 
released,  or  permitted  to  escape,  and  went  to  Maine,  where  he  died. 

Among  those  with  whom  Morton  had  joined  in  abusing  the  colonists 
in  England  was  another  reckless  adventurer,  one  Christopher  Gardiner. 
This  individual  had  come  to  New  England  shortly  before  Winthrop's 
arrival,  under  the  title  of  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner,  and  made  great  pre- 
tensions to  wealth  and  importance.  It  turned  out,  however,  that  he  was 
no  knight,  but  was  a  mere  adventurer,  who  had  left  one  wife  in  Pans 


MALIGNANT  OFFENDERS.  265 

and  another  in  London,  and  had  come  to  New  England  with  still  another 
woman.  The  two  unfortunate  wives  met  in  London,  and,  condoling 
with  each  other,  sent  to  Governor  Winthrop,  praying  that  the  false- 
hearted bigamist  might  be  sent  back  to  England,  "  his  first  wife  desiring 
his  return  and  conversion,  his  second  his  destruction  for  his  foul  abuse, 
and  for  robbing  her  of  her  estate,  comprising  therein  many  rich  jewels, 
much  plate,  and  costly  linen."  The  governor  sent  some  officers  to 
Gardiner's  house  to  arrest  him,  but,  having  heard  some  rumors  of  the 
letters  which  had  been  received,  the  wary  rogue  fled  to  the  woods  when 
he  saw  the  officers  approaching,  leaving  his  companion  to  be  taken. 
She  was  examined  by  the  magistrates,  but  was  "  impenitent  and  close, 
confessing  no  more  than  was  wrested  from  her  by  her  own  contradic- 
tions," and  she  was  sent  over  to  the  two  wives  in  England,  to  be  disposed 
of  as  they  might  see  fit.  Gardiner  wandered  about  among  the  Indians 
for  a  month,  when  some  of  them  took  him  to  Plymouth,  from  which 
place  he  was  carried  to  Boston,  and  thence  sent  to  England.  How  his 
two  wives  disposed  of  him  does  not  appear,  but  he  was  not  prevented 
from  venting  his  spite  against  the  Puritans  by  joining  in  the  abuse  of 
the  colonists  which  was  then  prevalent  among  a  class  of  malcontents  in 
England. 

Among  the  fifteen  hundred  emigrants  who  came  with  Winthrop  and 
immediately  after,  there  were  many  who  were  not  imbued  with  the  Pu- 
ritan faith.  Some  of  them  came  in  the  employ  of  the  company,  or  as 
servants  or  agents  of  parties  who  had  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  enter- 
prise, and  of  course  there  were  some  "  black  sheep  "  among  the  number. 
But,  as  the  evil  propensities  of  such  were  developed,  they  were  promptly 
brought  to  punishment,  and  suffered  such  penalties  as  were  then  in  vogue 
in  England.  One  Philip  Ratcliff,  an  agent  of  Governor  Cradock,  the 
first  governor  of  the  company  in  England,  made  himself  obnoxious  by 
speaking  "  boldly  and  wickedly  against  the  government  and  governors 
here,  using  such  words  as  some  judged  deserved  death."  His  seditious 
conduct  soon  got  him  into  trouble;  he  was  arrested,  tried,  and  found 
guilty,  and  for  his  offence  was  publicly  whipped,  and  had  both  his  ears 
cut  off".  Bearing  the  marks  of  his  disgrace,  he  found  his  way  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  also  joined  the  malcontents  in  denouncing  and  maligning 
the  colonists.  Other  adventurers,  of  vicious  character,  who  had  come 
NO.  vn.  34 


266  PUNISHMENTS  OF  OBNOXIOUS  PERSONS. 

over  with  the  colonists,  perhaps  to  escape  punishment  at  home,  as  soon 
as  they  became  known  were  sent  back  to  England  to  receive  their 
deserts. 

The  whipping-post,  stocks,  and  pillory  were  promptly  set  up  in 
Boston,  as  a  terror  to  evil-doers;  an  executioner,  expert  in  the  use  of  the 
whip  on  the  back  of  culprits  and  the  knife  on  their  ears,  was  early 
appointed;  and  the  magistrates  exercised  the  power  of  inflicting  such 
penalties  as  they  saw  fit,  and  resorted  to  banishment  in  order  to  rid 
themselves  of  "  pestilent  fellows  "  whose  offences  were  too  great  for  the 
pillory  and  not  quite  enough  for  the  gallows. 

The  first  occupant  of  the  stocks  in  Boston  was  the  unfortunate  car- 
penter who  made  the  wood-work.  He  doubtless  thought  that  for  such 
labor  he  ought  to  receive  unusual  pay,  since  all  who  were  to  be  placed 
in  the  stocks  would  probably  curse  the  maker;  but  he  overshot  the 
mark,  and,  for  his  extortion  in  taking  two  pounds  thirteen  shillings  and 
fourpence  for  his  work,  he  was  fined  five  pounds,  and  ordered  to  sit  one 
hour  in  the  stocks  which  he  had  himself  constructed.  After  him,  the 
stocks  were  never  for  a  very  long  period  out  of  use,  and  the  whip  was 
not  infrequently  in  requisition;  at  an  early  period,  too,  the  gallows  had 
its  victims. 

Severe  laws  were  passed,  and  penalties  were  attached  to  offences 
which  seem  trivial  now;  but  the  character  of  the  laws,  and  the  nature 
of  the  punishments  were  not  peculiar  to  the  Puritans,  but  were  common 
to  the  age,  and  were  derived  from  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  mother 
country.  But,  anxious  to  maintain  an  orderly  and  pious  commonwealth, 
they  extended  the  law  to  new  subjects,  and  punished  moral  delin- 
quencies, as  well  as  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  For  the  minor  offences 
fines  were  the  most  common  punishment,  but  the  discretion  or  ingenuity 
of  the  magistrates  sometimes  applied  a  new  penalty.  Daniel  Clarke,  for 
being  an  immoderate  drinker,  was  fined  forty  shillings;  and  Sergeant 
Perkins,  for  being  drunk,  was  ordered  to  carry  forty  turfs  to  the  fort; 
while  John  Wedgewood,  for  being  in  company  with  drunkards,  was  set 
in  the  stocks.  The  early  records  show  that  numerous  punishments  were 
inflicted  for  a  great  variety  of  offences  and  delinquencies,  chiefly  among 
those  who  were  not  freemen  nor  church-members,  though  occasionally 
some  erring  church-member  was  subjected  to  like  penalties.  Nor  did 


VARIOUS  PENALTIES  FOR   VARIOUS  OFFENCES.          267 

the  women  escape  the  punishment  incurred  by  their  misdeeds,  and  more 
than  one  found  guilty  of  slander  or  being  a  common  scold  —  and  even 
more  serious  offences  were  not  unknown  among  them  —  were  placed  in 
the  stocks. 

The  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  inflicted  punishment  in  a  similar  manner, 
and  for  like  offences.  One  of  the  first  offences  they  were  called  upon 
to  punish  was  a  duel  between  Edward  Doty  and  Edward  Leister,  ser- 
vants of  Steven  Hopkins.  These  worthies,  having  quarrelled,  undertook 
to  settle  their  difficulty  after  the  manner  of  the  gentry  in  the  old  country, 
and  fought  with  sword  and  dagger  till  both  were  wounded.  The  fathers 
of  the  colony,  thinking  their  wounds  were  not  sufficient  punishment,  held 
a  council  to  consider  what  should  be  done  to  deter  other  belligerent  par- 
ties from  indulging  in  this  amusement.  They  had  no  law  establishing 
a  penalty  for  this  offence,  but  they  very  quickly  invented  one  for  the 
occasion,  and  ordered  the  parties  to  be  tied  together,,  hand  and  foot,  and 
to  remain  so  for  twenty-four  hours,  without  food  or  drink.  The  culprits 
pleaded  hard  to  be  released,  and  made  excellent  promises,  and,  at  the 
intercession  of  their  master,  they  were  set  at  liberty  after  an  hour's 
endurance  of  the  punishment. 

Pea-sons  "  who  behaved  themselves  profanely "  by  remaining  out  of 
the  meeting-house  on  the  Lord's  day  during  service,  and  then  "  misde- 
meaning  themselves  by  jesting,  sleeping,  or  the  like,"  were  first  admon- 
ished, and  if  they  did  not  refrain  were  set  in  the  stocks.  For  disturbing 
the  church  at  Duxbury,  two  worthies  were  fined  twenty  shillings,  and 
were  ordered  to  be  bound  to  a  post  for  two  hours,  at  the  next  town 
meeting  or  training  day,  with  a  paper  on  their  heads  reciting  their 
offence.  One  unfortunate,  who  found  it  convenient  to  carry  a  grist  of 
corn  from  mill  on  Sunday,  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  shil- 
lings or  to  be  whipped. 

Swearing  was  said  to  be  punished,  by  boring  the  tongue  with  a  hot 
iron,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  such  punishment  was  inflicted;  and  lying,  by  a 
fine  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  lie.  One  of  the  Smith  family, 
"  for  lying  concerning  seeing  a  whale  and  other  things,"  was  fined  twenty 
shillings;  while  one  Randall,  for  simply  "  telling  a  lie,"  was  mulcted  in 
half  that  sum. 

Scolds  fared  ill,  if,  as  alleged,  they  were  indeed  gagged   and  set  at 


268  PUNISHMENTS  OF  OBNOXIOUS  PERSONS. 

their  doors  for  certain  hours  "for  all  comers  and  goers  by  to  gaze  at;" 
and  slanderers  received  a  severer  punishment,  for  Miss  J.  Boulton,  having 
committed  that  offence,  was  sentenced  to  sit  in  the  stocks  during  the 
pleasure  of  the  court,  "and  a  paper  written  in  capital  letters  to  be  made 
fast  unto  her  all  the  time  of  her  sitting  there." 

There  were  laws  for  the  punishment  of  offences  which  are  now  sel- 
dom heard  of,  and  looking  back  to  the  old  records,  one  must  admit  that, 
considering  their  numbers,  offences  against  morals  and  laws  were  as  fre- 
quent among  the  people  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  in  those  days  as 
in  more  recent  times,  or  came  to  light  as  frequently.  And  such  offences 
were  not  confined  to  the  poorer  and  more  reckless  classes,  but  persons 
of  good  repute  and  social  standing,  who  were  church-members,  were 
sometimes  the  sinners,  and  were  punished  for  their  sins. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  laws  of  the  Puritans  were  excessively 
severe,  but  they  were  milder  than  those  of  England  at  that  day,  and  the 
offences  punished  by  death  were  not  so  many  as  in  the  mother  country. 
The  capital  offences  in  the  Massachusetts  colony  did  not  exceed  ten  or 
twelve,  while  in  Virginia  there  were  seventeen.  It  was  the  age,  and  not 
the  peculiar  people  either  of  New  England  or  Virginia,  that  was  respon- 
sible for  the  severe  and  sometimes  brutal  punishments  that  prevailed. 
Similar  and  even  more  barbarous  penalties  were  in  vogue  in  the  most 
civilized  nations  of  Europe. 


XXX. 

INTOLERANCE.  -  ROGER   WILLIAMS.  -  ANNE 

HUTCHINSON. 


HE  summary  way  in  which  the  Puritans  began  at  the  very 
commencement  of  their  settlement  to  rid  themselves  of 
persons  of  questionable  character,  was  subsequently  carried 
to  extremes  by  driving  out  those  who  did  not  agree  with 
their  religious  or  political  doctrines,  though  no  charge 
could  be  brought  against  their  moral  character  or  con- 
duct. Viewed  from  their  standpoint,  however,  and  in 
the  light  of  that  period,  this  policy  was  justifiable.  They  had  come  to 
found  a  Puritan  colony,  and  felt  it  to  be  a  religious  duty,  as  well  as  a 
necessity  for  self-protection,  to  exclude  those  whose  evil  life  or  seditious 
teachings  were  dangerous  to  their  religious  polity  or  the  morals  of  their 
people.  "  They  could  not  tolerate  the  scoffer,  the  infidel,  or  the  dis- 
senter." 

Before  the  arrival  of  Winthrop,  Endicot  had  sent  back  to  England 
the  Brownes  because  they  adhered  to  the  forms  of  the  established  church 
and  used  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  With  Roger  Williams  a  more 
serious  conflict  arose,  which  greatly  disturbed  the  colony,  and  resulted 
in  the  exile  of  its  cause. 

Williams  arrived  in  New  England  early  in  1631,  a  young  Puritan 
minister  of  great  piety  and  "precious  gifts."  Persecution  in  England 
had  caused  him  to  consider  deeply  the  nature  of  intolerance,  and  while 
condemning  the  bigotry  which  denied  him  the  right  to  worship  God  as 
his  conscience  dictated,  he  followed  his  reasonings  to  their  logical  con- 
clusions and  protested  against  all  persecution  for  conscience'  sake,  lie 

269 


270  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

maintained  that  the  civil  law  should  not  undertake  to  dictate  forms  of 
faith,  nor  to  enforce  conformity  of  opinion.  The  office  of  the  magis- 
trate was  to  restrain  crime,  but  not  to  control  opinion  or  interfere  with 
the  dictates  of  a  man's  conscience.  He  conceived  and  boldly  announced 
religious  liberty  in  its  largest  sense,  —  a  liberty  with  which  human  laws 
had  no  right  to  interfere.  "The  sanctity  of  conscience  was  the  great 
tenet  which,  with  all  its  consequences,  he  defended." 

Such  a  doctrine  seemed  monstrous  to  the  stern  Puritans  who,  though 
fleeing  from  the  persecution  of  the  English  hierarchy,  had  not  renounced 
the  use  of  force  in  matters  of  religion.  It  was  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  system  on  which  the  colony  was  founded,  and  Williams  found  him- 
self in  sympathy  with  none  of  the  churches  on  this  point,  though  agree- 
ing with  them  in  the  more  vital  matters  of  faith.  Ministers  and  magis- 
trates vehemently  controverted  his  doctrine;  but  he  maintained  his  belief 
with  the  keenest  reasoning  and  unyielding  firmness,  yet  always  with  a 
gentle  and  forgiving  temper.  While  the  leading  clergy  and  their  austere 
followers  were  thus  opposing  a  doctrine  which  they  considered  dangerous 
to  the  maintenance  of  religion,  they  were  astounded  when  the  people  of 
Salem  desired  to  have  Williams  for  their  teacher.  The  magistrates 
marvelled  at  the  hasty  decision  of  the  Salem  people,  and  they  were 
required  to  relinquish  the  idea  of  receiving  a  minister  who  held  to  such 
heresy  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  The  Salem  people  submitted,  and  Wil- 
liams went  to  Plymouth,  where  he  remained  nearly  two  years,  finding 
among  the  Pilgrims  a  more  tolerant  reception  than  among  the  less  lib- 
eral Puritans. 

The  people  of  Salem  still  regarded  Williams  -with  affection,  and 
again  invited  him  to  come  among  them.  He  yielded  to  their  wishes, 
but  he  was  regarded  with  jealousy  by  the  other  ministers  and  magistrates, 
and  his  principles  continually  brought  him  into  collision  with  them.  He 
would  hold  no  communion  with  intolerance,  whether  of  the  Church  of 
England  or  of  the  churches  in  New  England.  He  denounced  the  law 
which  required  every  man  to  attend  public  worship,  declaring  that  the 
worst  statute  in  the  English  code  was  that  which  enforced  attendance 
upon  the  parish  church,  and  that  no  one  should  be  bound  to  worship  or 
to  maintain  a  worship  against  his  own  consent.  Such  doctrines  amazed 
the  Puritan  fathers,  who  believed  that  the  cause  of  religion  would 


SUMMONED   TO  ANSWER  FOR  HIS  DOCTRINES.  271 

thereby  be  utterly  lost.  He  also  argued  that  it  was  as  absurd  to  select 
the  magistrates  exclusively  from  the  members  of  the  church,  as  it 
would  be  to  choose  a  doctor  of  physic,  or  a  pilot,  according  to  his  skill 
in  theology  and  his  standing  in  the  church.  Such  views,*the  Puritans 
declared,  would  subvert  all  good  government;  and  when  he  asserted 
that  magistrates  were  but  the  agents  of  the  people  for  civil  purposes 
only,  on  whom  no  spiritual  power  in  matters  of  worship  can  ever  be 
conferred,  and  that  "  the  civil  magistrate  may  not  intermeddle,  even  to 
stop  a  church  from  apostasy  and  heresy,"  he  aimed  a  blow  at  the  system 
on  which  the  government  of  the  colony  was  based,  and  excited  the 
gravest  apprehensions  of  the  magistrates  and  ministers.  The  former 
were  still  further  disturbed  when  he  opposed  the  imposition  of  the 
"  freeman's  oath,"  by  which  every  freeman  was  obliged  to  swear  alle- 
giance to  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  and  they  looked  upon  him 
as  an  ally  of  a  dangerous  faction. 

Williams  was  summoned  before  the  court  to  answer  for  his  avowal 
of  such  dangerous  doctrines,  but  his  temper  was  so  mild,  notwith- 
standing his  firmness,  and  his  ability  in  argument  was  so  great,  that  the 
magistrates  found  it  difficult  to  deal  with  his  case.  The  ministers, 
however,  were  more  ready  to  condemn  him,  and  declared  that  any  one 
who  asserted  that  "  the  civil  magistrate  may  not  intermeddle,  even  to 
stop  a  church  from  apostasy  and  heresy,"  was  worthy  of  banishment. 
A  committee  of  the  clergy  was  appointed  to  deal  with  the  offending 
minister  and  his  church  in  a  church  way.  The  court  censured  the 
people  of  Salem  for  their  choice  of  a  teacher,  and,  to  punish  them  for 
their  obstinacy  in  adhering  to  him,  a  tract  of  land  which  had  been 
allotted  them  was  withheld. 

Matters  were  thus  brought  to  a  crisis.  Williams  joined  with  his 
church  in  addressing  letters  to  all  the  churches  of  which  any  of  the 
magistrates  were  members,  desiring  them  to  admonish  the  magistrates 
of  their  injustice.  This  was  looked  upon  as  little  less  than  treason,  and 
Salem  was  disfranchised  by  the  general  court  till  an  apology  should  be 
made  for  the  offensive  letters.  The  good  people  of  Salem,  however 
much  they  admired  Williams,  were  not  actuated  by  settled  convictions 
like  him;  they  wavered  and  yielded.  To  a  man  they  retracted  the  lan- 
guage which  had  given  offence,  and  abandoned  the  principle  of  the 


272  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

sanctity  of  conscience  which  their  minister  had  proclaimed.  Williams 
was  thus  left  alone;  even  his  wife  reproached  him  for  his  course.  But, 
though  deserted  by  his  friends,  and  with  the  whole  colony  apparently 
opposed  to  mm,  the  champion  of  religious  liberty  remained  firm,  and 
before  the  general  court  he  boldly  avowed  his  convictions,  and  declared 
himself  ready  to  be  bound  and  banished,  and  even  to  die,  rather  than 
renounce  the  doctrines  which  he  felt  to  be  true.  The  influence  of  the 
ministers  was  exerted  to  secure  his  punishment,  and  the  general  court 
was  induced  to  pronounce  against  him  the  sentence  of  exile. 

Winter  was  approaching  when  this  sentence  was  pronounced,  and 
Williams  obtained  permission  to  remain  till  spring.  The  people  of 
Salem  now  regretted  their  ungenerous  desertion  of  a  teacher  so  faithful 
to  his  principles.  He  was  a  martyr  for  conscience'  sake;  and  with  even 
more  reverent  regard  for  him  than  ever  before,  they  flocked  to  his 
house  to  testify  their  affection,  and  to  listen  while  they  might  to  his 
words.  Ministers  and  magistrates  again  became  alarmed  lest  his  opin- 
ions should  become  contagious,  and  a  new  state  should  be  founded  on 
the  principles  he  proclaimed.  It  was  therefore  determined  to  send  him 
at  once  to  England  in  a  ship  just  ready  to  sail.  He  was  summoned  to 
Boston  to  embark,  but  he  declined  to  obey  the  summons  for  such  a  pur- 
pose ;  and  when  officers  were  sent  to  arrest  him,  he  was  not  to  be  found. 
Although  it  was  in  the  middle  of  a  severe  winter,  and  the  snow  lay  deep 
upon  the  ground,  he  went  forth  into  the  wilderness  alone,  an  exile  from 
home  and  friends,  not  knowing  whither  he  should  go,  or  "what  fate 
awaited  him,  but  with-  the  spirit  of  a  martyr,  and  the  faith  of  a  saint. 

For  fourteen  weeks  he  wandered  through  the  dreary  forest,  sleeping 
sometimes  under  a  projecting  rock  or  in  a  hollow  tree,  living  for  days 
together  on  nuts  and  dried  berries,  and  sometimes  sheltered  from  the 
pitiless  blast  in  the  smoky  cabins  of  hospitable  Indians,  and  sharing  their 
meagre  fare.  He  had  always  shown  himself  friendly  to  the  natives,  and 
had  acquired  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  their  language  to  make  known 
his  wants  and  to  converse  with  them  on  the  great  truths  of  religion. 
During  his  residence  at  Plymouth  he  had  .become  well  known  to  the 
neighboring  sachems,  and  had  inspired  them  with  respect.  As  he  now 
made  his  way  southward  he  met  some  of  these  old  acquaintances,  and 
was  received  with  hearty  friendship  and  guided  on  his  way.  Governor 


OTHER  OBNOXIOUS  TEACHERS.  273 

Winthrop,  who  felt  a  sympathy  for  him,  had  privately  written  to  him, 
advising  him  to  go  to  the  Narragansett  Bay,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
patents  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth.  This  kindly  advice  he  fol- 
lowed, and  thither  he  went,  bound  to  found  a  settlement  where  the 
sanctity  of  conscience  should  be  recognized. 

The  colony  was  rid  of  Roger  Williams;  but  doctrines  similar  to  his 
were  soon  proclaimed  with  a  fanaticism  to  which  he  was  a  stranger,  and 
caused  a  serious  division  among  the  people.  Anne  Hutchinson,  a 
woman  of  remarkable  ability  and  eloquence,  made  her  appearance  in 
the  colony,  proclaiming  freedom  for  religious  opinion,  opposing  every 
despotism  over  the  mind,  and  maintaining  the  paramount  authority  of 
private  judgment.  She  soon  had  many  followers.  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who 
was  then  governor  of  the  colony,  a  man  of  enlightened  and  liberal 
views,  at  once  gave  her  his  support;  "scholars  and  men  of  learning, 
members  of  the  magistracy  and  the  general  court,  adopted  her  opinions;" 
and  in  her  opposition  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Puritan  clergy  a  majority  of 
the  people  of  Boston  sustained  her.  Her  brother,  the  Rev.  John  Wheel- 
wright, shared  her  opinions,  and  for  a  fast-day  sermon,  in  which  he  stren- 
uously maintained  the  truth  of  those  opinions,  was  censured  by  the 
general  court  for  sedition,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrance  of  Governor 
Vane.  The  Rev.  John  Cotton,  with  whom  the  governor  resided,  was 
influenced  by  Vane  so  far  as  not  to  oppose  the  doctrines  which  the  latter 
approved.  All  the  other  ministers  united  in  opposition  to  the  principles 
so  dangerous  to  their  influence,  and,  in  their  view,  fatal  to  the  safety 
alike  of  religion  and  good  government.  The  friends  of  Wheelwright 
threatened  an  appeal  to  the  king,  but  this  was  considered  by  the  col- 
onists as  little  better  than  treason  against  their  liberties,  and  the  religious 
dissensions  were  thus  carried  into  the  election.  A  heated  contest 
ensued;  the  friends  of  the  old  order  of  things  rallied  to  maintain,  as 
they  believed,  the  rights  of  the  colony  against  the  power  of  the  English 
government,  and  Winthrop  and  his  friends,  "  the  fathers  and  founders  of 
the  colony,"  succeeded  in  regaining  the  control  of  the  government. 

The  dispute,  however,  continued,  and  entered  into  all  the  affairs  of 
the  colony,  until  the  existence  of  a  party  violently  opposed  to  the  gov- 
ernment was  considered  inconsistent  with  the  public  peace.  To  prevent 
the  increase  of  this  party,  which  was  chiefly  recruited  from  abroad,  a 

NO.  viz.  35 


274  ANNE  HUTCHINSON. 

law  was  passed  providing  that  no  person  should  be  received  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  colony  but  such  as  should  be  allowed  by  some  of  the 
magistrates.  Vane  opposed  this  and  similar  measures  without  success, 
and  warning  the  colonists  against  such  legislation,  this  wise  and  firm 
friend  of  liberty  soon  after  embarked  for  England. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  continued  to  proclaim  the  doctrines  she  so  heartily 
believed  in,  and  Wheelwright  strenuously  supported  them,  while  some  of 
their  followers,  indignant  at  the  censure  passed  upon  the  latter,  became 
somewhat  extravagant  in  their  declarations,  and  avowed  their  purpose,  in 
spite  of  ministers  and  magistrates,  to  follow  the  dictates  of  conscience. 
Fearing  the  spread  of  such  a  dangerous  heresy,  a  synod  of  the  ministers 
of  New  England  was  assembled  by  the  government  for  the  purpose  of 
settling  the  true  faith,  and  condemning  those  false  doctrines  which  were 
to  be  rejected.  There  was  little  difference  among  the  clergy.  Besides 
Wheelwright,  Cotton  was  the  only  minister  who  had  given  any  counte- 
nance to  the  opinions  and  teachings  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  when  he  no 
longer  felt  the  influence  of  Vane,  there  was  little  difficulty  in  his  agree- 
ing with  his  brethren.  So  with  entire  unanimity  the  heresy  was  con- 
demned, and  the  true  faith  being  declared,  the  magistrates  were  called 
upon  to  maintain  it.  This  they  did  by  again  resorting  to  the  sentence 
of  banishment  against  the  more  prominent  offenders.  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
Wheelwright,  and  Aspinwall  were  pronounced  unfit  for  the  society  of 
the  pious  colonists,  and  were  exiled  from  the  territory  of  Massachusetts. 
Their  followers,  who  had  threatened  an  appeal  from  the  authority  of  the 
colonial  government,  and  were  regarded  as  a  dangerous  faction,  were 
required  to  deliver  up  their  arms  lest  they  might  "  upon  some  revelation 
make  a  sudden  insurrection." 

Wheelwright  and  his  friends  went  to  the  banks  of  the  Piscataqua, 
and  founded  the  settlement  of  Exeter.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  the  larger 
number  of  her  faithful  followers  travelled  southward,  and  being  wel- 
comed by  Roger  Williams,  through  his  influence  obtained  from  the 
chief  of  the  Narragansetts  a  gift  of  the  island  of  Rhode  Island.  Here 
they  established  themselves  under  a  perfectly  democratic  form  of  gov- 
ernment, in  which  the  liberty  of  conscience  was  expressly  recognized. 
Here  Mrs.  Hutchinson  continued  to  proclaim  her  opinions,  and  found 
many  converts  among  the  young  men,  who  left  the  other  colonies, 


CODDINGTON    AND    GORTON. 


STILL  ANOTHER   OFFENDER.  2>j$ 

attracted  by  her  teachings  and  the  freedom  of  Rhode  Island.  The  Puri- 
tans of  Massachusetts  were  greatly  disturbed  by  these  things.  One  of 
her  sons  and  a  son-in-law  ventured  to  expostulate  with  them  on  account 
of  the  wrongs  their  mother  had  suffered,  and  they  were  imprisoned  for 
several  months,  as  a  punishment  for  their  audacity.  The  power  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, directed  by  some  of  the  more  intolerant  of  the  clergy,  seemed 
likely  to  be  extended  beyond  its  legitimate  limits,  and  even  Rhode 
Island  seemed  no  longer  a  safe  place  of  refuge  for  the  eloquent  teacher 
of  such  offensive  doctrines.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  family  accord- 
ingly removed  to  the  Dutch  territory  of  New  Netherlands,  where  all 
but  one  child  were  killed  by  the  Indians. 

Another  individual  who  was  obnoxious  to  the  Puritans  was  Samuel 
Gorton,  who  came  to  Boston  in  1636.  He  entertained  the  same  views 
as  Roger  Williams  with  regard  to  the  province  of  the  magistrates  and 
freedom  of  conscience,  but  he  had  also  many  extravagant  and  fanciful 
ideas  in  his  religious  opinions.  As  he  was  bold  and  outspoken,  ex- 
pressing his  views  with  great  ability  and  freedom,  he  soon  found  all 
the  ministers  combined  against  him,  and  he  was  engaged  in  heated 
conflict  of  argument;  but  as  the  ministers  ruled  the  magistrates,  Gorton 
found  it  expedient  to  leave  Boston  and  go  to  Plymouth.  There  his  views 
were  no  more  acceptable  than  among  the  Puritans,  and  he  went  to  the 
settlement  on  Rhode  Island,  where  he  quarrelled  with  Coddington,  the 
founder  of  the  settlement,  about  some  swine.  The  dispute  was  carried 
into  court,  of  which  Coddington  was  the  principal  magistrate,  and  a  scene 
of  violence  ensued.  Coddington  cried  out,  "  You  that  are  for  the  king, 
lay  hold  on  Gorton!"  and  the  bold  reformer  retorted,  "You  that  are  for 
the  king,  lay  hold  on  Coddington!"  But  Coddington  was  too  powerful 
in  the  settlement,  and  Gorton  was  whipped  and  banished. 

Gorton  then  sought  the  tolerant  colony  of  Roger  Williams  at  Prov- 
idence, where  he  remained  for  a  time,  until,  purchasing  of  the  sachem 
Miantonomoh  some  land  on  Narragansett  Bay,  he  established  himself 
there,  with  "  such  as  chose  to  enjoy  his  way  of  thinking."  But  some  of 
his  associates  found  that  they  did  not  enjoy  his  way  of  thinking,  and 
sought  the  protection  of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  Gorton  had  also 
exercised  a  bad  influence  on  the  Narragansett  Indians,  and  encouraged 
their  hostility  towards  Massachusetts.  The  Puritans  were  ready  enough 


276  SAMUEL   GORTON. 

to  suppress  Gorton's  heresy,  and  to  punish  him  for  his  dangerous  course 
with  the  Indians,  as  well  as  for  the  insulting  language  he  used  towards 
the  general  court.  They  therefore  assumed  the  protection  of  the  com- 
plainants and  their  lands,  considering  further  that  "  the  place  might  be 
of  use  to  us;  and  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  not  to  let  it  slip."  Some 
commissioners,  with  a  military  force,  were  sent  to  settle  the  difficulties. 
Gorton  and  his  adherents  were  taken  before  the  court  in  Boston,  where 
he  made  an  extravagant  and  mystical  speech,  which  only  confirmed  the 
court  against  him.  All  the  magistrates  but  three  were  of  opinion  that 
he  ought  to  die;  but  the  deputies,  like  the  people  they  represented,  were 
more  tolerant  than  ministers  and  magistrates,  and  would  not  agree  to 
such  a  sentence.  Attempts  were  made  to  induce  him  to  abandon  his 
"  hellish  blasphemy,"  but  he  preferred  martyrdom  to  apostasy,  and  it 
being  necessary  to  inflict  some  punishment  upon  so  persistent  an  offender, 
he  and  six  of  his  followers  were  distributed  among  seven  towns,  to  be 
kept  at  work,  and  to  wear  irons  on  one  leg,  and  not  to  maintain  their 
blasphemous  errors  by  writing;  if  they  did,  they  were  to  be  punished  by 
death.  The  court  also  sent  to  Gorton's  settlement  and  took  his  cattle, 
to  pay  the  expense  of  this  invasion  of  the  territory  and  rights  of  parties 
over  whom  they  had  no  jurisdiction !  The  punishment,  however,  was  a 
two-edged  sword,  for  it  excited  pity,  especially  among  women,  for  the 
unfortunate  Gorton  and  his  friends,  and  the  obnoxious  doctrines  were 
listened  to  and  found  converts  among  the  sympathizing  people.  Not 
knowing  what  else  to  do  under  such  circumstances,  it  was  decided  to  set 
them  at  liberty,  and  give  them  fourteen  days  to  get  out  of  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  —  a  privilege  of  which  they  were  glad 
to  avail  themselves. 

Puritan  intolerance  towards  the  Quakers,  at  a  later  date  in  the  history 
of  the  colony,  was  attended  with  more  sad  and  fatal  results,  and  will  be 
narrated  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 


QUARREL    OF     WINTHPOP    AND     DUDLEY. 


XXXI. 


PILGRIMS   AND    PURITANS. -INCIDENTS,    EPI- 
SODES,   AND    CHARACTERISTICS. 


E  are  accustomed  to  look  upon  the  sombre  side  of  the 
Puritan  character,  and  to  see  them  only  as  stern  and 
morose  religionists,  strict  moralists,  iricTustrious  in  their 
temporal  affairs,  but  opponents  of  all  recreations  and 
pleasure;  whose  affections  even  were  under  the  restraint 
of  a  severe  creed,  and  could  find  no  natural  expression. 
But  they  were  human,  and  however  much  their  religion 
tinged  their  character  and  conduct  with  its  sober  hues, 
their  family  attachments,  their  love  and  friendship,  though  not  demon- 
strative, found  characteristic  expression  in  words  and  kindly  acts.  Though 
the  elders  and  church-members  did  not  indulge  in  much  merriment,  they 
were  not  devoid  of  humor,  and  did  not  abstain  from  laughter.  The 
young  and  the  large  number  who  were  not  church-members,  though 
under  the  watchful  restraint  of  parents,  guardians,  and  masters,  as  well 
as  the  rigid  rules  of  conduct  prescribed  by  the  magistrates,  were  pretty 
much  like  the  young  everywhere  in  their  feelings.  They  could  not 
express  their  sentiments  with  the  freedom  of  modern  times,  but  there 
were  stolen  occasions  of  frolic,  sly  bits  of  love-making,  and  secret  pas- 
sages of  romance. 

In  his  letter  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln,  written  amid  the  sorrows 
of  the  first  terrible  winter,  and  when  he  was  rather  disposed  to 
despond  under  the  hardships  encountered,  Dudley  tells  of  a  false  alarm 
which  evidently  provoked  the  laughter  of  the  grave  elders.  "  Upon  the 

277 


278  PILGRIMS  AND  PURITANS. 

25th  of  this  March,"  he  wrote,  "one  of  Watertown  having  lost  a  calf, 
and  about  ten  of  the  clock  at  night  hearing  the  howling  of  some  wolves 
not  far  off,  raised  many  of  his  neighbors  out  of  their  beds,  that,  by  dis- 
charging their  muskets  near  about  the  place  where  he  heard  the  wolves, 
he  might  so  put  the  wolves  to  flight  and  save  his  calf.  The  wind  serv- 
ing fit  to  carry  the  report  of  the  muskets  to  Rocksbury,  three  miles  off, 
at  such  a  time,  the  inhabitants  there  took  an  alarm,  beat  up  their  drum, 
armed  themselves,  and  sent  in  post  to  us  to  Boston  to  raise  us  also. 
So  in  the  morning,  the  calf  being  found  safe,  the  wolves  affrighted,  and 
our  danger  past,  we  went  merrily  to  breakfast."  The  fear  of  an  attack 
by  the  Indians  undoubtedly  created  a  genuine  alarm,  and  the  relief  expe- 
rienced when  the  harmless  cause  of  the  disturbance  was  known  evi- 
dently found  expression  in  fun  and  laughter. 

Governor  Winthrop,  who  was  an  "  example  of  piety "  to  the  colo- 
nists, and  whose  benevolence  was  constantly  shown  in  kindly  service  to 
the  poor,  sometimes  had  a  humorous  way  of  manifesting  it.  lie  was 
in  the  habit  of  sending  some  of  his  family  or  servants  upon  errands  to 
the  houses  of  the  poor  about  their  meal-time,  "on  purpose  to  spy  whether 
they  wanted,"  and  if  it  was  found  that  they  were  needy,  he  quietly  sent 
them  supplies.  On  one  occasion  a  neighbor  gave  him  private  informa- 
tion that  a  certain  needy  person  stole  wood  from  his  pile.  The  gov- 
ernor, in  apparent  anger,  exclaimed,  "Does  he  so!  I'll  take  a  course 
with  him.  Go  call  that  man  to  me;  I'll  warrant  you  I'll  cure  him  of 
stealing."  Ascertaining  that  the  offender  had  stolen  rather  from  neces- 
sity than  evil  disposition,  when  the  poor  fellow  appeared  trembling  be- 
fore him,  the  governor  said  to  him,  "  Friend,  it  is  a  severe  winter,  and 
I  doubt  you  are  but  meanly  provided  with  wood;  wherefore  I  would 
have  you  supply  yourself  at  my  wood-pile  till  this  cold  season  be  over." 
And  then,  we  are  told,  "  he  merrily  asked  his  friends  whether  he  had 
not  effectually  cured  this  man  of  stealing  his  wood." 

Governor  Winthrop  was  a  man  of  a  mild  and  generous  nature,  dis- 
inclined to  harsh  and  severe  measures,  and  sometimes  far  from  giving 
satisfaction  to  the  sterner  Puritans.  But  he  was  human,  and  could  take 
offence,  and  there  were  times  when  anger  got  the  better  of  his  dignity. 
The  deputy-governor,  Dudley,  an  older  man,  of  a  very  positive  nature, 
and  disposed  to  adopt  the  most  rigorous  measures  to  enforce  uniformity, 


INCIDENTS  AND  EPISODES. 


279 


looked  with  impatience  upon  the  lenient  policy  of  Winthrop,  and  early 
commenced  finding  fault  with  him.  The  governor  resented  the  manner 
rather  than  the  matter  of  Dudley's  animadversions;  and  a  serious  differ- 
ence existed  between  them  for  a  long  time.  At  last  it  broke  out  into 
an  angry  dispute  before  the  ministers  who  were  convened  to  hear  the 
complaints  of  Dudley  against  Winthrop.  The  governor  standing  upon 
his  rights  under  the  charter,  Dudley  got  into  a  violent  passion,  "  and  told 
the  Governor  if  he  were  so  round  he  would  be  round  too.  The  Gov- 
ernor bade  him  be  round  if  he  would.  So  the  Deputy  rose  up  in  great 
fury  and  passion,  and  the  Governor  grew  very  hot  also,  as  they  both  fell 
into  bitterness;  but  by  mediation  of  the  mediators  they  were  soon  paci- 
fied." Doubtless  these  grave  Puritan  fathers  came  near  to  blows  in  their 
passion.  That  the  explosion  did  not  more  seriously  disturb  the  Puritan 
mind  indicates  that  anger  and  high  words  were  not  altogether  strangers 
in  Puritan  society.  Indeed,  among  less  distinguished  parties  disputes 
were  not  uncommon,  and  being  Englishmen,  they  had  a  pertinacious 
way  of  maintaining  their  opinions. 

With  the  Puritans,  though  not  really  of  them,  were  some  wild 
young  men,  possibly  the  sons  of  some  of  the  most  pious  of  the  church- 
members,  who,  like  all  such  graceless  youths,  were  fond  of  pranks.  One 
day,  as  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  the  much  respected  minister  of  Boston, 
was  walking  quietly  down  the  street,  absorbed  in  his  own  thoughts,  a 
group  of  these  young  scapegraces  stood  by  the  wayside,  and,  as  he  ap- 
proached, one  of  them  said  to  his  fellows, — 

"There  comes  old  Cotton;  I'll  go  and  put  a  trick  upon  him."  So 
saying,  he  went  and  said  in  the  minister's  ear,  "  Cotton,  thou  art  an  old 
fool!" 

The  youth  was  proud  of  his  impudent  exploit,  and  the  worthy  min- 
ister was  so  astounded  that  for  a  moment  he  was  silent.  But  recovering 
his  composure,  he  replied,  with  characteristic  humility, — 

"I  confess  I  am  so;  the  Lord  make  both  thee  and  me  wiser  than  we 
are,  even  wise  unto  salvation."  The  gentleness  of  the  answer,  and  the 
mild  look  which  accompanied  it,  made  the  youth  slink  away  discomfited, 
though  he  and  his  fellows  probably  indulged  in  much  merriment  when 
out  of  the  minister's  sight  at  the  good  joke  of  calling  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cotton  an  old  fool  to  his  face. 


280  PILGRIMS  AND  PURITANS. 

There  are  episodes  of  love  and  romance,  even  in  the  lives  of  the 
sober  elders.  Tradition  has  preserved  what  History  has  ignored,  and 
Poetry  has  embalmed  the  tradition,  handed  down  faithfully  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  of  the  courtship  of  Miles  Standish.  The  brave  and 
fiery  little  captain  was  not  so  devoted  to  his  sword  but  he  could  have 
an  eye  for  beauty,  and  among  the  few  maidens  in  Plymouth,  Priscilla 
Mullins  attracted  him  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  desired  to  end  his  lonely 
life  by  marrying  her.  How  deeply  he  was  in  love  may  be  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  from  his  temperament  we  may  suppose  the  flame  burned 
fiercely,  even  if  briefly.  But  the  bluff  soldier  who  could  throw  himself 
upon  the  stalwart  Pecksuot  and  kill  him  with  his  own  dagger,  did  not 
dare  to  tell  his  love  and  pop  the  important  question. 

"  I  can  march  up  to  a  fortress,  and  summon  the  place  to  surrender, 
But  march  up  to  a  woman  with  such  a  proposal,  I  dare  not. 
I'm  not  afraid  of  bullets,  nor  shot  from  the  mouth  of  a  cannon, 
But  of  a  thundering  '  No  ! '  point  blank  from  the  mouth  of  a  woman, 
That  I  confess  I'm  afraid  of,  nor  am  I  ashamed  to  confess  it ! " 

Since  his  shyness  compelled  him  to  court  by  proxy,  Standish  was 
unfortunate  in  selecting  John  Alden  for  that  service, — John  Alden,  who 
was  himself  in  love  with  the  fair  Priscilla,  and  whose  youth  and  come- 
liness were  in  strong  contrast  with  the  grim  looks  of  the  "stocky" 
soldier.  Alden  doubtless  performed  his  unwelcome  task  with  true  loy- 
alty to  the  friend  whose  request  he  could  not  refuse,  or  whom  he  dared 
not  offend;  but  while  he  told  of  the  captain's  love,  and  the  captain's 
worth,  Priscilla  saw  only  the  proxy  wooer,  and  detecting  under  his  plead- 
ing for  his  friend —  if  she  did  not  know  before  —  the  state  of  his  heart, 
the  counterpart  of  her  own,  it  is  not  strange  that,  utterly  ignoring  the 
rough  Miles  Standish, — 

"Archly  the  maiden  smiled,  and  with  eyes  overrunning  with  laughter, 
Said,  in  a  tremulous  voice,  'Why  don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  John?'" 

The  wrath  of  the  hot-tempered  Standish,  when  the  result  of  his 
courtship  by  proxy  was  made  known  to  him,  may  be  imagined.  Of 
course  he  must  have  felt  that  he  was  betrayed,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that 
he  did  not  commit  some  violence  on  the  friend  who  proved  his  more 


ROMANTIC  STORY  OF  GOVERNOR  BRADFORD.  28i 

fortunate  rival;  but  perhaps  his  disappointment  added  force  to  the  blow 
with  which  he  drove  the  dagger  into  the  bosom  of  the  savage  Pecksuot, 
and  thus  found  relief. 

There  are  those  who  discredit  the  story  of  Miles  Standish's  courtship 
by  proxy,  and  who  would  brush  away  from  barren  facts  everything  that 
savors  of  romance;  as  if  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  were  not 
cold,  hard,  and  sombre  enough,  without  destroying  the  meagre  bits  of 
interesting  lore  that  here  and  there  adorn  it.  But  tradition  is  often  quite 
as  trustworthy  as  an  old  chronicle,  and  supplies  what  that  omits.  And 
the  tradition  of  this  courtship,  which  no  chronicle  disproves,  has  come 
down  to  us  through  the  successive  generations  of  the  Alden  family. 

A  little  romance  is  connected  with  another  prominent  name  among 
the  Pilgrims,  the  bald  facts  of  which  are  mentioned  by  the  old  chron- 
iclers. Governor  Bradford,  when  a  young  man  in  England,  became 
strongly  attached  to  Alice  Carpenter,  the  daughter  of  a  neighboring 
landed  proprietor.  His  love  was  returned  by  the  young  lady,  and  in 
their  meetings,  which  were  probably,  under  the  circumstances,  by  stealth, 
they  plighted  their  vows.  Bradford  was  a  dissenter,  and  belonged  to  a 
body  of  worshippers  who  were  suffering  the  persecution  of  the  English 
hierarchy,  and  were  preparing  to  fly  from  England  and  seek  a  refuge  in 
Holland.  The  young  man  determined  to  go  with  his  religious  brethren; 
but,  before  going,  he  sought  from  Alice's  father  the  hand  which  she  had 
already  promised  him.  But  the  father  was  obdurate.  It  did  not  matter 
that  in  birth,  social  position,  and  possessions  the  suitor  was  an  eligible 
party;  he  was  a  dissenter;  and  the  rigid  supporter  of  church  and  king 
would  not  permit  his  daughter  to  wed  a  pestilent  dissenter.  The  lovers 
separated  with  heavy  hearts,  and  Bradford  soon  went  to  Leyden.  It  was 
a  hopeless  case  for  them,  and  though  their  attachment  was  no  transitory 
fancy,  they  wisely  determined  to  make  the  best  of  it.  Bradford  married 
another  excellent  woman,  and  Alice  Carpenter  became  Mistress  Alice 
Southworth. 

Some  years  passed,  and  Bradford  came  over  with  the  little  band  of 
Pilgrims  in  the  Mayflower.  While  the  ship  was  at  anchor  in  Cape  Cod 
harbor,  and  Bradford,  with  Standish  and  others,  was  absent  exploring 
the  coast  in  the  pinnace,  Mrs.  Bradford  fell  overboard  and  was  drowned. 
It  was  a  sad  loss  to  him,  just  as  he  had  found  a  place  where  he  was  to 

NO.  vin.  36 


282  PILGRIMS  AND  PURITANS. 

establish  a  home,  and  enjoy  the  right  to  worship  God  according  to  his 
conscience  without  molestation;  but  he  soon  saw  others  more  severely 
afflicted,  as,  under  their  exposure  and  want,  one  half  the  colony  died. 
Elected  to  succed  the  excellent  Carver  as  governor,  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  welfare  of  the  colony,  but,  with  a  temperament  calculated  for  the 
enjoyment  of  domestic  life,  he  felt  lonely  without  a  helpmate.  He  had 
heard  that  Mrs.  Southworth  was  a  widow,  and  the  memory  of  his  first 
and  strongest  love  induced  him  to  write  to  her  and  renew  the  suit  of  his 
youth.  He  was  indeed  governor  of  this  little  colony,  but  he  could  offer 
little  inducement  for  her  to  leave  the  comforts  of  an  English  home,  and 
share  with  him  the  inconveniences  and  hardships  of  a  life  in  the  wil- 
derness, —  nothing,  indeed,  but  a  renewed  pledge  of  his  early  love. 

At  that  time  it  took  long  and  weary  months  for  a  letter  to  cross  the 
Atlantic,  and  required  patience  to  await  a  reply.  Unable  to  leave  the 
colony  and  renew  his  suit  in  person,  he  wrote,  asking  her,  if  her  heart 
responded  to  his,  to  come  to  him  by  the  next  ship  bound  to  Plymouth. 
With  anxiety  and  doubt  he  waited  through  the  long  period  before  the 
expected  ship  could  arrive.  In  the  mean  time  the  condition  of  the  colony 
was  not  prosperous,  and  those  who  were  to  come  could  receive  only  a  sad 
welcome  from  the  needy  settlers.  At  last  the  looked-for  ship  arrived, 
and  while  hastening  to  discharge  his  duties  as  governor  by  providing  for 
the  reception  of  all  who  came,  Bradford  could  not  but  feel  anxious, 
uncertain  whether  he  should  meet  her  for  whom  he  had  sent,  or  receive 
a  letter  which  should  again  crush  his  hopes.  But  he  was  not  doomed 
to  disappointment.  Among  the  passengers  was  Alice  Southworth,  no 
longer,  indeed,  the  fair  young  girl  whom  he  had  known  as  Alice  Car- 
penter, but  a  comely  matron,  who  met  him  with  the  reserve  due  to  their 
age  and  position,  but  with  a  rekindling  of  youthful  love.  That  love  had 
been  put  to  the  test,  and  she  had  left  home,  and  friends,  and  luxury,  to 
redeem  the  pledge  given  in  her  youth.  Notwithstanding  the  poor  hospi- 
talities he  could  offer,  that  was  a  happy  day  for  the  governor,  and  in  a 
fortnight  he  was  married  to  his  first  choice.  And  it  was  a  happy  mar- 
riage, as  well  as  a  romantic  one,  for  Mrs.  Bradford  was  long  remembered 
as  a  devoted  wife,  and  a  woman  of  exemplary  and  beautiful  character. 

Governor  Bellingham,  of  Massachusetts,  figured  in  a  romance  of  a 
somewhat  more  scandalous  character.  Before  he  was  elected  governor, 


BELLINGHAM'S  SCANDAL.  283 

he  was  one  of  the  most  strenuous  advocates  of  a  law  passed  in  1639, 
requiring  the  publication  of  intentions  of  marriage  by  proclamation  in 
the  church  on  lecture  day,  for  three  successive  weeks.  Little  did  he 
then  think  that  he  would  be  the  first  to  violate  the  law.  In  1641  he  was 
elected  governor.  At  that  time,  a  young  lady  of  great  personal  attrac- 
tions was  a  member  of  his  family,  and  was  the  object  of  serious  atten- 
tions on  the  part  of  a  young  kinsman  of  the  governor,  it  being  supposed 
that  they  were  in  fact  betrothed.  Bellingham  was  then  a  widower,  and 
he  also  conceived  a  strong  attachment  to  the  young  lady,  though  he  was 
fifty  years  of  age,  and  she  but  twenty.  By  nature  imperious,  and  not 
very  considerate  of  the  rights  or  feelings  of  others  when  opposed  to  his 
own  wishes,  he  disregarded  propriety  and  hospitality,  and  vigorously 
made  love  to  his  guest. 

The  young  kinsman,  shocked  at  this  bold  invasion  of  his  rights, 
remonstrated  with  the  fair  one  for  tolerating  the  attentions  of  his  rival. 
But  the  lady  was  high-spirited,  and  indignant  that  her  conduct  should  be 
restrained  by  any  one  but  a  husband,  she  slighted  her  younger  suitor, 
and  encouraged  the  elder.  The  young  kinsman  was  poor  and  de- 
pendent, and  the  governor's  comparative  wealth  and  high  position  were 
too  powerful  temptations  for  the  ambitious  girl  to  resist.  She  discarded 
the  young  lover,  and  accepted  the  governor.  The  gossips,  of  course, 
enjoyed  this  unusual  bit  of  scandal  in  the  Puritan  town,  and  Bellingham, 
with  all  his  assurance,  was  not  bold  enough  to  face  the  nods  and  head- 
shakings  which  would  attend  the  publication  of  the  banns,  or  he  was  too 
eager  to  make  sure  of  his  prize  to  wait  the  prescribed  time.  He  accord- 
ingly disregarded  the  law  requiring  the  publication,  which  he  had  him- 
self so  earnestly  advocated.  With  the  Puritans,  marriage  was  a  civil 
contract,  entered  into  before  a  magistrate.  But  as  no  magistrate  would 
be  equally  guilty  of  violating  the  law  by  performing  the  marriage  cer- 
emony without  the  publication,  he  performed  it  himself!  In  the  pres- 
ence of  his  household  for  witnesses  the  pair  made  their  promises,  and 
then  and  there  the  governor  pronounced  himself  and  the  lady  man 
and  wife. 

For  this  violation  of  law,  and  scandalous  disregard  of  propriety  and 
the  custom  of  the  colony,  he  was  prosecuted.  The  case  came  before 
the  court  of  which,  as  governor,  he  was  a  member.  To  add  to  the  scan- 


284  INCIDENTS  AND   CHARACTERISTICS. 

dal,  he  had  the  assurance  to  take  his  seat  on  the  bench,  to  assist  in  try- 
ing his  own  cause.  Winthrop,  who  was  then  deputy-governor,  refused 
to  proceed  unless  the  culprit  governor  retired.  But  this  he  declined  to 
do,  and  the  case  was  thus  suspended  and  never  brought  to  trial.  And 
so  the  governor  escaped  punishment,  and  excused  his  offences  by  plead- 
ing his  very  great  love  for  the  lady  he  had  married.  How  this  plea  was 
received  by  the  ill-treated  kinsman,  and  how  Madame  Bellingham  ex- 
cused her  perfidy  to  the  youthful  suitor,  history  does  not  record. 

The  early  settlers  brought  with  them  a  little  of  the  pomp  to  which 
the  old  world  was  then  accustomed.  On  all  public  occasions  the  gov- 
ernor and  magistrates  appeared  with  no  little  ceremony,  and  the  order 
of  precedence  was  strictly  observed.  In  their  formal  intercourse  with 
the  Indians,  they  endeavored  to  impress  the  natives  by  such  display  as 
their  limited  means  afforded,  and  by  such  formalities  as  indicated  their 
superiority,  though  never  in  an  offensive  manner.  When  Massasoit 
visited  Plymouth,  the  musketeers  were  paraded,  —  partly,  perhaps,  for 
safety,  —  and  drums  were  beat  and  trumpets  were  sounded,  somewhat 
to  the  astonishment  and  alarm  of  the  Indians.  Other  formalities  fol- 
lowed, such  as  became  the  interview  between  the  governor  and  magis- 
trates of  an  English  colony  and  the  sagamore  of  the  native  tribes. 
Afterwards,  a  measure  of  precaution  was  made  to  appear  as  a  mark  of 
honor;  for,  whenever  the  Indians  came  into  the  settlement  the  gunners 
stood  to  their  cannon  on  the  top  of  their  block-house,  and  some  of  the 
settlers  were  always  armed  with  their  muskets;  and  when  this  excited 
the  alarm  and  distrust  of  the  natives,  they  were  told  it  was  an  act  of 
courtesy  always  observed  by  the  English. 

Pomp  and  parade  were  not  reserved  for  the  savages  alone.  When 
Isaac  de  Rasieres  came  on  an  embassy  from  the  Dutch  at  New  Amster- 
dam to  negotiate  for  the  opening  of  trade  between  the  colonies,  he  was 
attended  by  trumpeters,  and  was  received  with  equal  noise  and  pomp  on 
the  part  of  the  Plymouth  people.  The  importance  of  the  two  colonies 
was  thus  displayed,  and  the  negotiations  were  entered  upon  with  all  due 
formality. 

When  Governor  Winthrop,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  and  .others,  visited 
Plymouth  in  1631,  the  Pilgrims  dispensed  with  the  noise  of  drums  and 
trumpets,  and  the  parade  of  musketeers,  but  they  received  their  visitors 


GOVERNOR   WINTHROP'S  VISIT  TO  PLYMOUTH.  285 

with  greater  and  more  appropriate  marks  of  respect.  Winthrop  and  his 
companions  went  by  water  to  Wessagusset,  or  Weymouth,  and  thence 
travelled  on  foot  to  Plymouth.  Governor  Bradford,  Elder  Brewster,  and 
other  leading  men  among  the  Pilgrims  went  out  to  meet  them  some 
distance  from  the  settlement,  and  "  conducted  them  to  the  governor's 
house,  where  they  were  kindly  entertained,  and  feasted  every  day  at 
several  houses."  The  proceedings  on  Sunday  illustrate  the  customary 
religious  exercises  of  the  Pilgrims  of  that  day.  "On  the  Lord's  day 
was  a  sacrament,  in  which  they  partook;  and  in  the  afternoon  Mr.  Roger 
Williams  propounded  a  question,  according  to  their  custom;  to  which 
the  pastor,  Mr.  Smith,  spoke  briefly,  then  Mr.  Williams,  and  after  him 
the  governor  of  Plymouth  spoke  to  the  question;  after  him,  the  elder  and 
some  two  or  three  more  of  the  congregation.  Then  the  elder  desired 
Governor  Winthrop  and  Mr.  Wilson  to  speak  to  it,  which  they  did. 
When  this  was  ended,  the  deacon,  Mr.  Fuller,  put  the  congregation  in 
mind  of  their  duty  of  contribution;  upon  which  the  governor  and  all 
the  rest  went  down  to  the  deacon's  seat  and  put  into  the  bag,  and  then 
returned." 

Governor  Winthrop  and  his  party  left  Plymouth  at  a  very  early  hour 
in  the  morning,  and  Governor  Bradford,  with  the  pastor,  elder,  and  other 
prominent  men  of  the  colony  accompanied  them  half  a  mile  out  of  town 
in  the  dark,  while  two  or  three  went  with  them  about  ten  miles.  It 
must  have  been  a  tedious  and  fatiguing  journey  on  foot,  through  forest 
and  swamp,  to  Weymouth.  When  they  came  to  a  river  where  the 
stream  was  "  very  strong  and  up  to  the  hips,"  they  were  carried  over  by 
their  guide;  not  a  very  dignified  mode  of  transportation  for  the  grave 
governor  of  the  Puritan  colony  and  the  reverend  minister  of  Boston, 
but  the  passage  was  made  safely,  and,  in  honor  of  their  stalwart  guide, 
Winthrop  named  the  place  Luddham's  Ford.  The  governor  re-named 
another  place,  then  known  as  Hue's  Cross;  as  this  name  savored  too 
much  of  popery,  he  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of  Hue's  Folly.  The 
toilsome  journey  was  completed  before  night,  and  the  party  was  "boun- 
tifully entertained"  by  the  good  people  of  Weymouth,  who  were  now 
of  a  different  sort  from  Weston's  unruly  adventurers. 

The  Indians  about  Massachusetts  Bay  were  so  few,  —  being  only  the 
remnants  of  a  tribe  decimated  by  the  pestilence  which  visited  the  region 


286  INCIDENTS  AND   CHARACTERISTICS. 

a  few  years  before  the  settlement  of  Plymouth,  —  that  the  Puritans  had 
little  occasion  to  make  any  display  of  pomp  and  ceremony  for  their 
benefit.  They  visited  the  settlements  only  in  small  numbers,  and  were 
generally  kindly  received  and  well  treated,  though  the  settlers  warily 
had  their  arms  at  hand,  in  case  any  treachery  should  be  attempted. 
Though  not  called  upon  to  receive  any  large  Indian  deputation  on  a  for- 
mal visit,  like  that  of  Massasoit  and  his  followers  at  Plymouth,  Governor 
Winthrop,  in  his  intercourse  with  such  as  did  comej  did  not  forget  the 
dignity  of  his  office.  On  one  occasion,  Chickatabot,  the  sagamore  of 
Neponset,  came  to  the  governor  with  some  beaver  skins,  with  which  he 
proposed  to  trade  for  some  English  clothes.  The  governor  told  him  that 
English  sagamores  were  not  accustomed  to  barter,  but  he  summoned  his 
tailor,  and  ordered  him  to  make  a  suit  of  clothes  for  the  chief.  The 
savage,  not  to  be  outdone  in  generosity,  presented  to  the  governor  some 
fine  beaver  skins,  and  the  undignified  method  of  barter  was  avoided  by 
this  exchange  of  presents.  On  the  day  appointed,  Chickatabot  appeared 
for  his  promised  clothes,  and  "the  governor  put  him  into  a  very  good 
new  suit,  from  head  to  foot,"  to  the  great  delight  of  the  savage. 

At  a  later  period,  when  the  issue  of  peace  or  war  was  pending,  the 
emissaries  of  more  distant  and  powerful  tribes  were  received  with  the 
dignified  formality  which  should  at  once  satisfy  the  Englishman's  sense 
of  propriety,  and  impress  the  savage  visitors  with  the  power  and  dignity 
of  the  Massachusetts  colony. 


XXXII. 

RELIGION. -MILITARY  ORGANIZATION.- 

EDUCATION. 


ELIGION  was  the  first  and  most  important  matter  which 
I  demanded  the  attention  of  the  Puritans.  For  that  they 
had  come  to  the  new  world,  and  measures  to  maintain  the 
true  faith,  as  they  considered  it,  were  the  first  essential 
in  their  institutions.  One  of  the  first  buildings  to  be 
erected  was  a  "  meeting-house,"  where  they  could  gather 
for  religious  worship,  or  to  discuss  the  interests  of  the 
community.  Each  settlement  had  its  minister,  and  the 
whole  community  was  required  to  attend  the  Sabbath  services.  The 
church  organization  was  founded  on  democratic  principles.  At  the 
outset  it  was  agreed  that  the  authority  for  ordination  rested  not  with 
the  ministers,  but  in  the  congregations,  each  of  which  could  call  and 
ordain  its  own  minister,  and  make  its  own  rules.  This  was  the  origin 
of  the  Congregational  churches  in  New  England.  But  such  an  inde- 
pendent mode  was  soon  found  to  be  too  democratic,  and  tending  some- 
what to  schism.  The  General  Court,  therefore,  ordered  that  no  church 
should  call  a  minister  without  the  approbation  of  some  of  the  magis- 
trates as  well  as  of  some  neighboring  churches;  and  this,  with  the 
exception  of  the  approval  of  the  magistrates,  has  been  substantially  the 
rule  ever  since. 

The  ministers,  though  thus  called  and  ordained  by  the  people,  were 
by  no  means  their  servants.  They  were  the  most  influential  men  in  the 
colony,  and  took  an  active  part  in  all  civil  as  well  as  religious  matters. 

287 


288  RELIGION. 

They  were  men  of  education,  and  some  of  them  men  of  great  ability. 
They  were  "  the  steady  encouragers  of  education,  the  friends  of  good- 
ness, and  the  advocates  of  piety."  But  they  were  human,  and  they 
made  mistakes.  They  undertook  to  make  the  institutions  of  New  Eng- 
land conform  to  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  they  had  a  mighty  influence 
over  the  magistrates,  so  that  they  could  shape  the  laws  of  the  colony, 
in  a  great  measure,  to  suit  their  purposes.  Many  of  them  were  bigots 
and  ascetics;  but  some  were  kindly  and  genial  men,  whose  love  of 
pleasantry  and  the  good  things  of  this  world  would  sometimes  break 
down  the  cold  formalism  and  sanctity  which  custom  and  public  opinion 
compelled  them  to  assume.  That  some  were  base,  the  "  black  sheep  " 
of  the  flock,  there  is  good  reason  to  suppose. 

Teaching  and  preaching  were  not  confined  to  the  clergy,  but  lay- 
men were  often  expected  to  speak  in  the  church.  Subjects  for  discus- 
sion were  proposed,  and  the  leading  church-members  took  part,  being 
generally  well  versed  in  the  Bible,  and  accustomed  to  the  phrases  in 
which  religious  matters  were  then  discussed.  In  such  discussions  worldly 
matters  were  often  subjected  to  the  test  of  religious  doctrine. 

The  Puritans  were  exceedingly  strict  in  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
da)',  or  Sabbath;  —  the  heathen  name  of  Sunday  they  discarded  as  wicked. 
The  time  of  rest  commenced  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday.  All  work 
was  suspended  at  an  early  hour,  and  all  worldly  cares  and  anxieties 
given  over  in  preparation  to  devote  the  coming  day  to  the  service  of 
the  Lord.  Sunday  began  with  family  prayers  in  most  of  the  houses, 
and  no  more  work  was  done  than  was  necessary  to  prepare  their  frugal 
meals  and  feed  their  cattle.  Few  steps  were  taken,  and  the  little  talking 
that  was  done  was  in  a  subdued  voice.  Perfect  stillness  reigned  with- 
out, and  as  near  it  as  possible  within  the  houses.  All  were  clad  in 
their  best  garments,  often  enough  well-worn  and  scanty,  but  clean  and 
decent.  When  the  drum  beat  in  lieu  of  bell-ringing,  all  the  inhabitants, 
young  and  old,  came  forth  to  go  to  church.  In  the  early  days  there 
was  always  a  dread  of  the  Indians,  and  the  men  carried  their  guns  on 
their  shoulders  as  if  going  to  a  "  training."  Women  and  children  fol- 
lowed, prim  and  demure,  and  soon  an  irregular  procession  was  formed, 
headed  by  the  minister,  elders,  and  magistrates;  and  thus,  with  solemn 
faces  and  devout  hearts,  they  marched  to  the  primitive  meeting-house, 


THE  MEETING-HOUSE. 


289 


which  was  sometimes,  as  in  Plymouth,  a  strong  block-house  constructed 
for  defence.  Here  sentinels  were  posted,  and  all  the  rest  went  in  and 
listened  reverently  to  prayers  sometimes  an  hour  long,  and  to  sermons 
of  twice  that  length,  and  joined  in  the  psalm  of  praise  sung  to  some 
simple  tune.  In  the  afternoon  the  services  were  continued  in  a  similar 
manner,  varied,  perhaps,  by  the  discussions  which  have  been  mentioned. 

A  recent  writer*  describes  for  his  young  readers  a  New  England 
church  and  religious  service  in  the  olden  time  as  follows:  — 

"  If  we  could  carry  ourselves  back  to  those  days,  and  were  to  approach 
a  New  England  village  about  nine  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  we 
should  hear  some  one  beating  a  drum,  or  sounding  a  horn,  or  blowing 
a  conch-shell,  or  possibly  ringing  a  bell,  to  call  people  to  worship.  As 
we  came  nearer  still,  we  should  see  a  flag  waving  from  a  log-built 
church,  or  '  meeting-house.'  Entering  the  village,  we  should  see  a  strong 
fence  of  stakes  around  this  meeting-house,  and  a  sentinel  in  armor 
standing  near  it;  and  we  should  see  some  of  the  men,  as  they  went 
in,  leaving  their  muskets  in  his  care.  We  should,  perhaps,  see  a  cannon 
or  two  planted  near  the  meeting-house;  and  we  should  also  see  some 
strange  wooden  frames  not  far  off,  these  being  the  stocks  and  the  pillory 
put  there  to  punish  offenders.  Looking  at  this  church,  we  should  see 
that  it  had  very  few  glass  windows,  and  that  these  had  very  thick  and 
small  panes,  diamond-shaped,  and  set  in  leaden  frames.  We  should 
observe  that  the  other  windows  had  oiled  paper  instead  of  glass,  and 
we  should  see  between  the  windows  the  heads  of  wolves  that  had  been 
killed  and  displayed  there  during  the  past  year. 

"  If  we  were  to  look  inside  the  little  church,  we  should  not  see  fam- 
ilies sitting  together  as  now,  but  they  would  be  distributed  according  to 
age,  sex,  or  rank.  In  those  days,  the  old  men  sat  together  in  one  place 
in  the  church,  the  young  men  in  another.  The  boys  all  sat  on  the 
pulpit  stairs  and  gallery,  with  constables  to  guard  them.  Each  of  these 
constables  had  a  wand,  with  a  hare's  foot  on  one  end  and  a  hare's  tail 
on  the  other.  These  were  to  keep  the  people  awake.  If  any  woman 
went  to  sleep,  the  constable  touched  her  on  the  forehead  with  the  hare's 
tail;  but  if  a  small  boy  nodded,  he  was  rapped  with  the  other  end,  not 

*  T.  W.  Higginson. 
NO.    VIII.  37 


290  RELIGION. 

quite  so  gently.  No  doubt  the  wand  was  often  used,  for  the  services 
were  sometimes  three  or  four  hours  long,  the  sexton  turning  the  hour- 
glass before  the  minister  at  the  end  of  every  hour.  The  only  music 
consisted  of  singing  by  the  congregation  from  a  metrical  version  of  the 
psalms,  called  the  '  Bay  Psalm  Book.'  The  whole  number  of  tunes 
known  to  the  congregation  did  not  exceed  ten,  and  few  congregations 
could  go  beyond  five.  This  was  the  Puritan  form  of  religious  service, 
and  people  were  not  allowed  to  stay  at  home  from  it;  for  men  called 
tithing-men  were  sent  about  the  town  to  look  for  those  that  were  absent. 
Men  were  fined  for  every  unnecessary  absence,  and  if  they  staid  away 
a  month  together  they  might  be  put  in  the  stocks  or  into  a  wooden 
cage." 

The  following  account  of  the  Sunday  services  in  Boston  in  the  early 
days  of  the  colony  was  written  at  the  time,  and  published  in  London:  — 

"Every  Sabbath,  or  Lord's  day,  they  came  together  at  Boston  by 
ringing  of  a  bell,  about  nine  of  the  clock  or  before.  The  pastor  be- 
gins with  solemn  prayer,  continuing  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  The 
teacher  then  readeth  and  expoundeth  a  chapter;  then  a  psalm  is  sung, 
whichever  one  of  the  ruling  elders  dictates.  After  that  the  pastor 
preacheth  a  sermon,  and  sometimes  extempore  exhorts.  Then  the 
teacher  concludes  with  prayer  and  a  blessing.  Once  a  month  is  a  sac- 
rament of  the  Lord's  Supper,  whereof  notice  is  usually  given  a  fortnight 
before,  and  then  all  others  departing  except  the  church  (which  is  a  great 
deal  less  in  number  than  those  that  go  away),  they  receive  the  sac- 
rament, the  minister  and  ruling  elders  sitting  at  the  table,  the  rest  in 
their  seats  or  upon  forms.  About  two  in  the  afternoon,  they  repair  to 
the  meeting-house  again,  when  the  services  are  much  the  same  as  in 
the  morning.  After  that  ensues  baptism ;  one  of  the  parents  being  of  the 
church,  no  sureties  are  required;  which  ended,  follows  the  contribu- 
tion, one  of  the  deacons  saying,  '  Brethren  of  the  congregation,  now 
there  is  time  left  for  contribution;  wherefore,  as  God  has  prospered  you, 
so  freely  offer.'  The  magistrate  and  chief  gentlemen  first,  and  then  the 
elders,  and  all  the  congregation  of  them,  and  most  of  them  that  are  not 
of  the  church,  all  single  persons,  widows,  and  women  in  absence  of  their 
husbands,  come  up  one  after  another,  one  way,  and  bring  their  offerings 
to  the  deacon  at  his  seat,  and  put  it  into  a  box  of  wood  for  the  purpose, 


SUNDAT  EVENING. 


291 


if  it  be  money  or  papers;  if  it  be  any  other  chattel,  they  set  or  lay  it 
down  before  the  deacons,  and  so  pass  another  way  to  their  seats  again, 
which  money  and  goods  the  deacons  dispose  toward  the  maintenance  of 
the  minister  and  the  poor  of  the  church,  and  the  church's  occasions, 
without  making  account  ordinarily." 

Such  was  the  simple  form  of  service  in  the  Puritan  meeting-houses, 
and  such  was  the  voluntary  system  of  maintaining  the  church.  To 
many,  especially  among  the  )'oung,  Sunday  must  have  seemed  a  weary 
day,  with  its  long  sermons  discussing  abstruse  theological  questions,  the 
repression  of  all  the  natural  spirits  of  youth,  the  prohibition  of  all  talk- 
ing and  mirth,  and  the  restraint  of  limbs  accustomed  through  all  the 
week  to  activity.  But  with  the  sunset  the  Sabbath  ended,  and  the  holy 
day  was  succeeded  by  a  holiday  evening.  Promptly  with  the  going 
down  of  the  sun,  children  burst  forth  from  their  confinement,  and  ran 
joyfully  to  the  spring  for  water,  or  to  the  pasture  for  the  cows,  or  wildly 
about  the  fields,  exulting  in  the  use  of  limbs  and  voices.  Young  men 
and  maidens  rejoiced  in  the  liberty  to  laugh  and  joke,  and  in  the  ap- 
proach of  those  few  blessed  hours  free  from  employment  and  devoted 
to  social  intercourse  and  courtship. 

Next  to  religion  and  good  order,  military  affairs  were  considered  of 
the  most  importance  by  the  early  colonists.  They  had  come  to  the  wil- 
derness with  a  distrust  and  dread  of  its  savage  inhabitants.  The  mas- 
sacres in  Virginia,  and  the  hostility  sometimes  manifested  against  the 
traders  who  had  visited  the  shores  of  New  England,  had  warned  them 
of  the  treacherous  and  vindictive  character  of  the  Indians,  and  while 
determined  to  treat  them  justly,  they  saw  the  necessity  of  being  prepared 
for  any  hostile  attack.  At  an  early  day  they  built  fortifications,  on  which 
cannon  were  mounted,  and  every  man  was  provided  with  a  gun  and 
ammunition,  and  expected  to  act  as  a  soldier  in  the  common  defence. 
As  towns  were  organized,  each  had  its  "  train-band,"  or  military  com- 
pany, which  was  duly  officered,  and  exercised  in  the  use  of  arms.  The 
leading  men  of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  at  least,  probably  had  in  view 
not  only  protection  against  hostile  savages,  but  the  possible  necessity  of 
defence  against  enemies  from  abroad,  and  even  the  resistance  of  oppres- 
sion by  their  own  countrymen.  After  the  Pequot  war,  the  provisions 
for  defence  by  the  organization  of  military  companies  were  especially 


292 


MILITARY  ORGANIZATION. 


strict.  In  1639,  there  were  two  regiments  in  the  Massachusetts  colony 
which  mustered  a  thousand  able-bodied  and  well-armed  men;  and  in 
1641,  Winthrop  says  that  at  one  training  there  were  twelve  hundred 
men  on  duty  at  Boston,  and  he  adds,  "yet  not  one  drunk,  though  there 
was  plenty  of  wine  and  strong  beer  in  the  town." 

In  1643,  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  advised  "that 
every  man  may  keep  by  him  a  good  gun  and  sword,  one  pound  of 
powder,  with  four  pounds  of  shot,  with  match  or  flints  suitable  to  be 
ready  on  all  occasions."  This  advice  was  probably  necessary,  for  though 
most  of  the  early  settlers  were  armed,  some  of  those  who  had  come 
afterwards  were  not,  and  the  peaceable  conduct  of  most  of  the  Indians 
after  the  destruction  of  the  Pequot  tribe  had  given  a  sense  of  security. 
But  the  colonists  were  of  a  race  that  were  always  ready  to  defend  their 
homes,  and  the  military  spirit  did  not  slumber  long. 

In  most  of  the  towns,  at  the  first  division  of  lands  a  field  was  set 
apart  for  a  "training-field,"  and  some  of  them  are  still  preserved  as 
commons  or  public  squares. 

The  "  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery,"  of  Boston,  which  still  exists 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  dates  its  organization  back  in  these  early 
colonial  days,  having  been  formed  in  1637.  The  court  refused  at  that 
time  to  incorporate  the  company,  considering  "  how  dangerous  it  might 
be  to  erect  a  standing  authority  of  military  men,  which  might  easily  in 
time  overthrow  the  civil  power."  The  militia  or  entire  body  of  men, 
armed  as  required,  was  deemed  an  ample  and  safer  protection  to  the 
lives  and  the  liberties  of  the  colonists.  At  a  later  date,  however,  the 
company  was  chartered. 

The  soldiers  of  that  day  wore  armor  consisting  of  a  breastplate  and 
back-piece  of  steel  or  iron,  and  pieces  to  protect  the  thighs.  Not  all 
those  who  were  required  to  bear  arms  were  supplied  with  this  armor, 
but  those  who  were  called  into  service  were  thus  protected,  so  far  as 
the  armor  could  be  furnished. 

Among  the  colonists  were  men  who  had  been  in  the  military  ser- 
vice in  Europe,  who  brought  with  them  the  martial  spirit  of  a  period 
when  war  was  chronic,  and  whose  experience  was  invaluable  as  ad- 
visers and  officers.  Standish  was  not  the  only,  though  the  most  expe- 
rienced and  daring  soldier  who  came  with  the  Pilgrims;  and  among  the 


HARVARD   COLLEGE.  293 

Puritans,  Dudley,  the  deputy  governor,  Endicot,  Leverett,  and  other 
prominent  men,  with  some  of  less  distinction,  had  seen  service  in  war. 
Under  such  leaders  there  was  ample  material  to  render  good  service 
when  required,  and  what  the  colonial  soldiers  did  in  the  Indian  wars 
will  appear  in  subsequent  pages. 

Education  received  the  attention  of  the  colonists  from  the  earliest 
times.  Before  schools  were  established,  parents  were  required  to  in- 
struct their  children  in  reading,  and  to  catechise  them  once  a  week. 
Schools,  however,  were  early  commenced,  and  supported  by  rates  on  the 
householders,  or  by  voluntary  contributions.  Some  of  the  schools  thus 
established  were  supported  in  this  manner  for  many  years,  and  were 
then  endowed  by  wise  and  liberal  men,  whose  beneficence  is  experi- 
enced even  at  the  present  day.  Several  free  schools  founded  in  those 
early  days  of  small  things,  and  subsequently  chartered,  are  still  in  exist- 
ence, the  gift  of  lands  having  in  the  lapse  of  time  become  an  ample 
endowment. 

In  1636  the  General  .Court  of  Massachusetts  gave  four  hundred  pounds 
towards  the  maintenance  of  a  public  school  of  a  higher  order  at  New- 
town.  Two  years  after,  John  Harvard,  a  gentleman  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge in  England,  who  had  been  but  a  year  in  the  colony,  bequeathed 
this  institution  eight  hundred  pounds  and  his  library.  In  recognition  of 
this  liberal  endowment  the  institution  was  called  Harvard  College,  and 
Newtown  received  the  name  of  Cambridge.  Provision  was  made  for 
ample  instruction,  with  a  view  especially  to  prepare  young  men  for  the 
ministry,  and  the  college  was  authorized  to  confer  degrees. 

The  bequest  of  Harvard  was  "  the  earliest,  the  noblest,  and  the  purest 
tribute  to  religion  and  science  this  western  world  had  yet  witnessed. 
It  was  equally  timely  and  unexampled.  Wisely  and  justly  did  our  an- 
cestors inscribe  his  name  upon  the  seminary,  and  acknowledge  him  as 
its  founder,  who  had,  at  a  moment  so  seasonable  and  critical,  afforded 
that  efficient  aid  which  alone  enabled  them  at  once  to  give  it  existence. 
The  example  of  Harvard  was  like  an  electric  spark  falling  upon  mate- 
rials of  a  sympathetic  nature,  exciting  immediate  action  and  consenta- 
neous energy.  The  magistrates  caught  the  spirit,  and  led  the  way,  by 
a  subscription  among  themselves  of  two  hundred  pounds,  in  books,  for 
the  library.  The  comparatively  wealthy  followed  with  gifts  of  twenty 


294 


EDUCATION. 


and  thirty  pounds.  The  needy  multitude  succeeded,  like  the  widow  of 
old,  '  casting  their  mites  into  the  treasury.' "  * 

From  this  time  forth  Harvard  College  was  cherished  with  love  and 
pride  by  the  colonial  government  and  the  people.  Differences  of  opin- 
ion and  conflicts  of  authority  arose,  and  critical  times  were  experienced, 
but  through  all  there  was  a  love  and  veneration  for  the  institution  which 
sustained  it  in  every  difficulty  and  carried  it  through  every  crisis.  En- 
dowment followed  endowment,  and  its  usefulness  was  extended,  till  it 
has  become  the  wealthiest  university  in  the  country,  and,  to  say  the  least, 
one  of  the  foremost  in  the  educational  advantages  it  offers. 

Not  trusting  to  the  voluntary  maintenance  of  schools  by  each  com- 
munity, the  General  Court  at  an  early  day  required  that  a  school  should 
be  kept  and  maintained  a  part  of  the  year  in  every  town,  and,  as  pop- 
ulation and  prosperity  increased,  towns  having  one  hundred  families  were 
required  to  maintain  a  grammar  school.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
common-school  system  of  New  England,  —  a  system  which  is  the  pride 
of  its  people  and  the  safeguard  of  free  institutions,  —  and  which  from 
New  England  extended  through  nearly  all  portions  of  the  country. 

Not  much  like  the  public  school  of  to-day,  especially  in  the  cities 
and  larger  towns,  was  the  school  of  the  olden  time.  Instead  of  the 
large  concourse  of  children  assembling  in  graded  classes  in  a  spacious, 
elegant,  and  well-furnished  school-house,  amply  supplied  with  books  and 
apparatus  and  conveniences  for  the  comfort  of  teacher  and  pupil,  a  lim- 
ited number  of  boys  and  girls  of  various  ages  —  children  of  eight  or 
ten  years,  and  well-grown  young  men  and  women  —  gathered  in  a  small, 
ill-fashioned,  one-story  building,  where,  sitting  on  rough  benches  or  extem- 
porized seats,  with  no  apparatus  but  the  master's  birch  and  ferule,  they 
received  instruction  from  the  alphabet  to  the  four  simple  rules  of  arith- 
metic. 

The  teachers  of  the  earlier  days  were  men,  for  though  women  could 
generally  read,  very  few  of  them  could  write,  and  still  fewer  had  other 
acquirements  necessary  even  for  the  rudimentary  teaching  of  the  time. 
There  were  a  few  professional  pedagogues,  who  had  come  over  from 
England  as  such;  and  there  were  young  men  preparing  for  the  minis- 
try, or  too  slender  for  the  rough  work  of  the  farm,  and  inclined  to  books, 

*  Quincy's  Hist,  of  Harvard  College. 


THE  SCHOOLMASTER.  295 

who  became  teachers  for  longer  or  shorter  periods.  Seated  on  a  high 
stool,  from  which  he  overlooked  his  little  flock  of  students  and  idlers, 
the  schoolmaster  maintained  his  authority  by  dint  of  a  display  and  not 
infrequent  use  of  the  rod  and  ruler,  and  with  much  diligence  and  hard 
work  instructed  his  charge  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  good 
morals.  Sometimes  a  comely  maiden  among  the  older  girls  would 
capture  the  heart  of  the  impressible  but  shy  master;  and  woe  to  him 
should  he  by  any  absence  of  mind  or  partiality  betray  his  feelings  in 
school.  If  he  did  not  conceal  his  love  forever,  he  must  at  least  reserve 
any  manifestation  of  it  till  that  time  when,  in  "  boarding  round,"  good 
fortune  should  bring  him  to  the  house  where  the  fair  scholar  dwelt; 
and  well  would  it  be  for  him  if  that  were  the  last  week  of  the  school, 
for  young  men  and  women  in  those  days  were  not  free  from  a  dispo- 
sition to  banter  and  ridicule,  and  if  they  saw  the  learned  pedagogue 
caught  in  the  toils  of  love,  it  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  discovery 
would  not  conduce  to  discipline  or  study,  nor  to  the  comfort  of  the 
demure  maiden  who  was  so  fortunate  or  unfortunate  as  to  be  the  object 
of  his  partiality. 


XXXIII. 

ROGER   WILLIAMS   AT    PROVIDENCE. 


OGER  WILLIAMS,  banished  from  the  Massachusetts 
colony,  after  weary  weeks  of  wandering  through  the 
forest,  stopped  at  Seekonk,  and  there  built  a  hut  and 
planted  corn,  intending  to  settle  there.  But  he  was  in- 
formed by  the  Plymouth  colonists  that  he  was  wifhin 
their  patent,  and  being  determined  to  follow  Winthrop's 
advice,  and  go  where  no  white  man  had  any  claim  to 
land  or  authority,  he  abandoned  all  his  spring-time  labor, 
and  again  moved  southward.  The  Indians  were  more  friendly  than  the 
Puritans.  Massasoit  had  welcomed  him  to  the  region  occupied  by  his 
tribe,  and  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh,  sachems  of  the  powerful  Nar- 
ragansetts,  were  equally  well  disposed  towards  one  who  was  universally 
respected  by  the  natives.  He  bargained  with  them  for  a  tract  of  land 
at  the  head  of  Narragansett  Bay,  and  with  three  or  four  friends  who 
had  followed  him  into  exile  he  floated  down  the  Pawtucket  River, 
and  landing  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Providence,  he  was  wel- 
comed by  his  Indian  friends  with  shouts  of — 
"What  cheer,  friend,  —  what  cheer?" 

Grateful  that  he  had  at  last  found  a  spot  where  he  could  no  longer 
be  persecuted,  he  gave  it  the  name  of  Providence,  and  dedicated  it  to 
religious  liberty.  He  built  himself  a  house,  but  the  year's  planting  had 
been  wasted  at  Seekonk,  and  he  and  his  companions  were  dependent 
upon  the  Indians.  Hither  soon  came  some  twenty  of  his  Salem  friends, 
who  had  proved  steadfast  in  their  friendship,  together  with  his  wife  and 

296 


A   DEMOCRATIC  CONSTITUTION. 


297 


children.  Nor  was  he  without  sympathy  in  the  colony  of  Plymouth, 
for  Winslow  visited  him  during  the  time  of  privation,  and,  as  he  wrote, 
"  put  a  piece  of  gold  in  the  hands  of  my  wife  for  our  supply." 

The  grant  of  lands  by  the  Narragansett  chiefs  was  large  and  valuable, 
and  the  property  was  vested  in  Williams  alone.  But  he  had  no  desire 
for  extensive  possessions  or  power,  and  he  soon  conveyed  to  twelve 
of  his  associates  equal  rights  to  the  lands.  A  constitution  or  basis  of 
government  for  the  colony  was  adopted,  which  was  remarkable  for  its 
brevity,  its  liberality,  and  its  democratic  spirit.  It  was  as  follows:  — 

"  We,  whose  names  are  hereunder  written,  being  desirous  to  inhabit 
in  the  town  of  Providence,  do  promise  to  submit  ourselves  in  active  or 
passive  obedience  to  all  such  orders  or  agreements  as  shall  be  made  for 
the  public  good  of  the  body,  in  an  orderly  way,  by  the  major  consent 
of  the  present  inhabitants,  masters  of  families,  incorporated  together  into 
a  township,  and  such  others  whom  they  shall  admit  into  the  same  — 
only  in  civil  things." 

This  instrument  was  signed  by  all  the  masters  of  families,  and  for 
several  years  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  regulate  the  management 
of  affairs  in  the  little  community.  Until  1640,  the  vote  of  a  majority  in 
town  meeting  regulated  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  common  interest, 
and  previous  to  that  time  no  power  was  delegated.  The  covenant  given 
above  confined  the  action  of  the  town  meeting  to  civil  affairs;  in  all 
matters  of  religious  opinion  there  was  to  be  no  restraint.  It  was  the 
purpose  of  Williams  and  his  associates  to  guarantee  entire  freedom  to 
all  men  in  opinion  and  worship,  whether  Hindoos,  Jews,  Turks,  or  Chris- 
tians, Papists,  Quakers,  or  Atheists. 

So  jealous  were  they  of  their  religious  rights,  that  they  insisted  that 
a  husband  should  not  control  his  wife  in  religious  opinions  or  practice; 
and  when  one  Joshua  Verin  refused  to  let  his  wife  go  to  church  as  often 
as  she  wished,  he  was  called  to  account.  Verin  argued  that  the  Scrip- 
tures gave  him  the  right  to  prevent  his  wife  from  going  to  church,  but 
it  was  voted  that  "  for  breach  of  covenant,  in  restraining  liberty  of  con- 
science, he  shall  be  withheld  the  liberty  of  voting  until  he  declare  the 
contrary." 

To  this  land  of  religious  freedom  came  all  sorts  of  people  flying 
from  persecution,  —  free-thinkers,  Anabaptists,  Antinomians,  visionaries, 

NO.  viu.  38 


298 


ROGER   WILLIAMS  AT  PROVIDENCE. 


and  fanatics.  But  the  apparent  difficulty  of  harmonizing  these  discor- 
dant elements,  and  making  them  live  together  under  one  tolerant  gov- 
ernment, did  not  dismay  Williams.  He  declared  that  time  would  prove 
the  truth  of  his  doctrine,  proclaimed  by  him  in  Massachusetts  and 
established  at  Providence,  that  the  civil  power  has  no  jurisdiction  over 
the  conscience. 

To  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts,  the  founding  of  a  settlement 
where  such  freedom  of  religious  opinion  was  tolerated  was  a  scandal, 
and,  determined  to  hold  themselves  aloof  from  the  heresies  that  found 
protection  there,  they  forbade  all  dealings  with  the  Providence  people. 
The  court  also  passed  an  order  to  apprehend  any  of  the  Providence  folk 
found  in  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  send  them  out  of  the 
bounds  unless  they  would  disclaim  such  opinions.  The  new  colony  was 
therefore  cut  off  from  trade  with  Boston,  and  at  times  suffered  severely 
for  want  of  supplies  that  could  only  be  obtained  there. 

When,  at  a  later  day,  the  Puritans  whipped  and  hanged  the  Quakers, 
Williams  and  his  followers  remained  true  to  his  principles,  and  afforded 
an  asylum  to  the  persecuted  but  really  obnoxious  fanatics  who  took  that 
name.  The  Providence  people  were  urgently  requested  to  banish  the 
Quakers,  as  the  other  colonies  did,  but  they  declined.  Three  times  the 
United  Colonies  required  the  Rhode  Island  people  to  join  in  the  perse- 
cution of  the  obnoxious  sect,  and  three  times  they  firmly  refused. 

The  settlement  at  Providence  was  but  fairly  established  when  the 
followers  of. Anne  Hutchinson,  driven  from  Massachusetts,  sought  a 
refuge  with  Roger  Williams.  Through  the  good  offices  of  Williams, 
a  grant  of  land  on  Aquidneck,  or  Rhode  Island,  was  obtained  from  the 
Narragansett  sachems,  and  here,  under  the  lead  of  William  Coddington, 
a  new  settlement  was  established. 

Coddington  had  been  a  magistrate  in  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  man 
of  substance  and  influence  in  that  colony;  but  he  believed  in  the  Anti- 
nomian  doctrines  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  when  she  and  her  followers 
were  banished,  though  efforts  were  made  to  induce  him  to  remain  in 
Massachusetts,  he  chose  to  sacrifice  his  property,  and  join  his  fortunes 
with  the  exiles.  Taking  the  Bible  as  their  constitution  and  code,  the 
settlers  on  Rhode  Island  appointed  Coddington  judge.  But  after  a  trial 
of  two  years,  this  form  of  government  was  found  not  to  work  well, 


WILLIAMS  OBTAINS  A    CHARTER.  299 

and  Coddington  was  then  elected  governor,  with  a  deputy  governor  and 
magistrates,  after  the  manner  of  the  older  colonies. 

The  settlers  at  Providence  and  Aquidneck  had  established  them- 
selves without  any  charter  or  patent  from  the  king,  and  held  their  lands 
by  purchase  from  the  Indians  only,  which  would  seem  to  give  them  the 
best  title  to  them,  but  which  in  practice,  under  the  English  law,  was 
of  little  account.  When  Gorton's  associates  quarrelled  with  him,  and 
transferred  their  lands  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Massachusetts  colony, 
and  that  government  undertook  to  get  a  foothold  on  Narragansett  Bay, 
Williams  and  his  friends  saw  that  their  only  security  would  be  in  ob- 
taining a  charter  from  England.  Williams  was  accordingly  deputed  to 
go  to  England,  where,  through  the  influence  of  his  firm  friend,  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  he  might  secure  a  patent.  As  there  were  no  English  ves- 
sels trading  in  Narragansett  Bay,  and  he  was  an  outlaw  at  Boston,  he 
was  obliged  to  go  to  the  Dutch  settlement  of  New  Netherlands,  and 
sail  thence  for  England. 

When  he  arrived  in  England,  the  country  was  in  the  midst  of  a 
revolution  and  civil  war.  The  king  had  fled  from  London,  and  Parlia- 
ment was  supreme.  Through  the  great  influence  of  Vane,  he  obtained 
a  liberal  charter,  which  preserved  the  principles  for  which  he  had  so  long 
contended.  He  returned  by  way  of  Boston,  bringing  with  him  a  letter 
which  secured  him  a  landing  there.  The  Puritans,  however,  now  that 
these  heretics  had  a  charter,  were  only  the  more  jealous  of  them.  It 
would  almost  seem  that  there  was  a  combination  among  the  neigh- 
boring colonies  to  divide  the  Providence  and  Rhode  Island  Plantations 
between  them;  for  Plymouth  laid  claim  to  Aquidneck,  Massachusetts  to 
lands  on  Narragansett  Bay,  and  Connecticut  to  territory  on  the  west. 
But  Williams  and  his  friends  firmly  maintained  their  rights,  and  under 
the  charter  the  several  settlements  around  Narragansett  Bay  were  united 
under  the  name  of  the  Providence  Plantations. 

The  return  of  Williams  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  people  of  Prov- 
idence, who  entertained  for  him  the  greatest  love  and  veneration.  Num- 
bers of  them  met  him  at  Seekonk,  and  welcomed  him  with  unostenta- 
tious but  heartfelt  demonstrations  of  respect.  Well  might  he  feel 
rewarded  for  his  labors  in  behalf  of  this  grateful  people. 

A  government  was  organized  under  the  charter,  liberty  of  conscience 


3 oo  ROGER  WILLIAMS  AT  PROVIDENCE. 

was  still  recognized  as  a  cardinal  principle,  and  the  affairs  of  the  col- 
ony were  carried  on  with  some  friction,  but  without  serious  trouble,  till 
Coddington,  going  to  England  in  1651,  obtained  a  separate  charter  for 
Rhode  Island,  and  was  appointed  governor  for  life.  But  the  people 
of  the  Island,  like  most  of  the  other  colonists,  were  jealous  of  their 
rights,  and  with  reason  feared  that  the  appointment  of  a  governor  for 
life  would  endanger  their  liberties.  Public  opinion  was  so  strong  against 
him  and  his  charter  that  he  was  forced  to  resign.  Meanwhile  Williams 
and  Clarke,  another  excellent  man  of  the  Providence  colony,  went  again 
to  England  and  procured  the  revocation  of  Coddington's  charter,  and  a 
renewal  of  the  original  one,  under  which  a  union  of  the  plantations  was 
again  formed.  For  a  long  time,  however,  there  were  constant  disputes 
and  antagonism  between  them,  and  affairs  were  conducted  in  anything 
but  an  orderly  manner. 

Roger  Williams  always  remained  true  to  the  principles  which  he 
promulgated  in  his  early  life,  for  which  he  suffered  persecution,  and 
which  he  established  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  government  of  his  col- 
ony. Clear  in  his  perception  of  principles,  he  was  not  afraid  to  follow 
them  to  their  logical  results.  By  nature  a  controversialist,  he  was 
capable  of  great  bitterness  and  severity,  as  shown  in  his  difficulties  with 
Gorton  and  with  Harris.  But  he  was  also  of  a  kind  and  forgiving  tem- 
per, which  did  not  treasure  up  enmity  or  ill-will.  Notwithstanding  the 
severity  with  which  Massachusetts  had  treated  him,  and  the  jealousy  of 
his  institutions  which  that  colony  always  manifested,  he  was  ever  ready 
to  be  of  service  to  it  by  his  influence  with  the  Indians.  Dealing  peace- 
fully and  justly  with  the  natives,  he  secured  their  good-will,  and  labored 
through  life  for  their  welfare.  His  principles  and  his  works  entitle  him 
to  the  gratitude  of  the  generations  who  have  reaped  the  benefit  of 
them. 

But  if  Williams  was  worthy  of  praise,  many  of  the  Providence  and 
Rhode  Island  colonists  were  far  from  deserving  it.  Fanatics  and  agi- 
tators in  Massachusetts,  they  became  violent  radicals  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  some  would  have  been  worthy  members  of  the  "  Commune "  of 
recent  times,  except  that  they  recognized  God  as  a  ruler,  which  can 
hardly  be  said  of  the  Communists.  William  Harris  wrote  against  "all 
earthly  powers,  parliaments,  laws,  charters,  magistrates,  prisons,  punish- 


RHODE   ISLAND  JOINS  IN  THE  DUTCH  WAR.  301 

ments,  rates,  yea,  against  all  kings  and  princes,  under  the  notion  that 
the  people  should  shortly  cry  out, 'No  lords,  no  masters! 'and  in  open 
court  protested,  before  the  whole  colony  assembly,  that  he  would  main- 
tain his  writings  with  his  blood."  Another  reformer  declared  "  that  it 
was  blood-guiltiness,  and  against  the  rule  of  the  Gospel,  to  execute  judg- 
ment upon  transgressors  against  the  private  or  public  weal."  They 
were,  moreover,  a  restless  and  quarrelsome  set,  and,  not  content  with 
conflicts  of  words,  they  often  came  to  blows.  Nor  did  they  have  much 
regard  for  the  place  where  such  encounters  took  place,  and  disputants 
before  the  court  resorted  to  this  forcible  kind  of  argument  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  became  necessary  to  provide  that  "  in  case  any  man  should 
strike  another  person  in  the  court  he  should  either  be  fined  ten  pounds 
or  be  whipped."  Notwithstanding  their  limited  numbers,  they  could 
muster  a  mob;  and  in  Providence  some  reckless  disturbers  of  the  peace 
got  up  a  riot  under  pretence  of  a  voluntary  training. 

The  belligerent  proclivities  which  the  Rhode  Island  people  man- 
ifested among  themselves  they  also  undertook  to  exercise  towards  a 
"  common  enemy,"  and  when  the  English  Commonwealth  went  to  war 
with  the  Dutch,  they  thought  they  must  take  a  hand  in  it.  They  went 
into  the  business  of  privateering,  issued  commissions  to  three  officers  for 
service  against  New  Netherlands,  and  established  an  admiralty  court  for 
the  trial  of  prizes.  These  proceedings  were  disapproved  by  the  rulers 
of  the  Providence  Plantations,  but  were  carried  through  in  spite  of  their 
protest.  Two  privateers  sailed,  and,  being  once  on  the  high  seas,  the 
commander  of  one,  considering  all  nations  as  enemies  and  all  ships  as 
lawful  prize,  or  being  unable  to  distinguish  between  a  Frenchman  and 
a  Dutchman,  captured  a  French  ship.  Another  enterprising  captain 
seized  a  vessel  belonging  to  Plymouth,  with  which  colony  Rhode  Island 
was  supposed  to  be  at  peace.  This  commander  afterwards  captured  a 
Dutch  vessel,  and  took  it  into  Fairfield.  The  inhabitants  of  that  place, 
belonging  to  the  colony  of  New  Haven,  which  entertained  a  chronic 
animosity  against  the  Dutch,  were  doubtless  delighted  to  see  the  prize; 
but  when  two  Dutch  armed  vessels  appeared  off  their  shore,  and  block- 
ading the  harbor,  threatened  something  worse,  they  wished  the  meddling 
Rhode  Islanders  at  the  bottom  of  the  Sound. 

In  various  ways,  the  turbulent  portion  of  the   Rhode   Island  people 


302  ROGER   WILLIAMS  AT  PROVIDENCE. 

contrived  to  render  themselves  troublesome  to  their  neighbors,  and  the 
Plantations  were  regarded  by  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  as  little  better 
than  a  nuisance.  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  had  always  manifested  an  in- 
terest in  the  colony,  and  had  used  his  great  influence  to  obtain  for  it  the 
charter  which  Roger  Williams  brought  over,  was  disgusted,  and  wrote 
a  sharp  letter  condemning  the  disorders  which  prevailed.  Roger  Wil- 
liams, returning  from  a  second  visit  to  England,  was  greatly  distressed 
to  find  the  condition  of  affairs,  which  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse  during 
his  absence.  He  bitterly  reproached  the  people  for  their  misconduct, 
and  urged  them  "  with  the  eloquence  almost  of  despair,"  to  find  some 
way  to  establish  peace  and  good  order.  The  better  portion  of  the  set- 
tlers were  also  disgusted,  and  thus  appealed  to  by  the  revered  founder 
of  the  colony,  they  exerted  themselves  to  bring  about  a  better  state  of 
affairs,  and  under  Williams'  charter  divisions  were  gradually  healed, 
and  a  change  was  made  in  the  rulers  by  which  a  wiser  and  more  efficient 
government  was  established,  which  could  suppress  disorders  and  secure 
justice. 


XXXIV. 

PIONEERS   AND   SETTLERS   IN   CONNECTICUT. 


HE  settlers  about  Massachusetts  Bay  found  generally  a 
rocky  country  and  a  light  soil,  which  was  hard  to  culti- 
vate, and  not  very  productive.  The  Indians  coming  from 
the  interior  told  them  of  the  fertile  valley  of  the  "  Quo- 
nehtacut,"  or  Connecticut,  the  most  beautiful  of  rivers, 
and  promised  them  great  crops  of  corn  and  beans  if  they 
would  come  and  settle  in  that  more  attractive  region, 
where  fields  were  fruitful,  and  where  game  abounded,  and  furs  were 
plentiful.  Before  the  Puritan  colonists  were  fairly  settled  in  their  new 
home  and  had  lost  all  thought  of  returning  to  England,  the  report  of 
this  more  fertile  country  awakened  in  some  of  them  a  desire  to  emi- 
grate. But  though  the  idea  of  emigration  was  ever  present,  for  some 
years  there  was  little  chance  to  put  it  in  execution,  on  account  of  their 
poverty  and  the  difficulties  and  dangers .  of  the  journey  into  the  land  of 
the  savages.  The  same  story  was  told  at  Plymouth,  and  Winslow  went 
to  see  this  wonderful  country,  and  claimed  to  be  its  discoverer. 

About  this  time,  the  thrifty  and  enterprising  Dutch  traders  of  New 
Amsterdam  established  a  trading-post  on  the  Connecticut,  near  the  site 
of  the  city  of  Hartford,  where  the  numerous  Indians  of  the  valley  and 
the  adjacent  country  could  bring  down  to  them  large  quantities  of  furs. 
The  people  of  Plymouth,  too,  having  passed  through  the  stages  of  weak- 
ness and  want,  and  becoming  more  prosperous,  were  not  disposed  to 
neglect  the  advantages  of  trade,  and  in  1633  prepared  a  house,  and  sent 
a  party  to  establish  a  trading-post  on  the  same  river,  where  they  had 
purchased  a  tract  from  the  Indians.  National  jealousy  was  in  those  days 

3°3 


304  PIONEERS  AND   SETTLERS  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

perhaps  greater  than  in  more  recent  times.  The  early  settlers  and 
traders  were  not  disposed  to  tolerate  the  settlers  or  traders  of  any  other 
nation  on  the  soil  which  was  claimed  alike  by  Spanish,  French,  and 
English  sovereigns,  but  which  in  fact  belonged  to  neither.  Even  the 
pious  Pilgrims  were  not  without  this  feeling,  and,  while  profiting  by  a 
promising  trade,  they  aimed  also  at  checking  the  progress  of  the  Dutch. 

The  Plymouth  enterprise  was  of  course  a  small  affair,  for  Plymouth 
itself  was  but  a  hamlet,  and  the  Pilgrims  could  not  hope  then  to  drive 
out  their  Dutch  rivals  by  force.  But  their  relations  with  the  Indians 
were  such  that  they  hoped  to  get  the  best  of  the  trade,  while  they  pos- 
sessed ample  spirit  to  maintain  their  own  rights,  if  assailed.  In  a  small 
vessel  they  sailed  up  the  river,  and  when  the  Dutch  threatened  to  oppose 
their  passage,  they  threatened  to  shoot  back,  and  passed  the  fort  unmo- 
lested. Proceeding  some  miles  above  the  Dutch  post,  the  Plymouth 
traders  established  themselves  near  the  site  of  Windsor,  where  they 
quickly  erected  their  house,  surrounded  it  with  palisades,  and  mounted 
some  small  cannon. 

The  amicable  relations  of  the  Plymouth  men  with  the  Indians  in  this 
case  did  not  avail  them  much.  Several  petty  chiefs  of  river  tribes,  who 
had  been  driven  off  by  the  Pequots,  had  sought  refuge  with  the  English, 
and  were  now  brought  back  to  their  former  homes  and  possessions. 
The  mass  of  the  Indians  did  not  relish  this  return  of  their  old  rulers,  for 
whom  they  had  lost  respect,  and  the  result  was  that  they  became  un- 
friendly to  Plymouth  men,  and,  without  any  violent  demonstration, 
annoyed  and  obstructed  them  in  various  ways,  by  which  the  Dutch 
traders  were  rather  benefited  than  injured. 

The  Dutch  made  a  more  hostile  demonstration.  Though  they  had 
i-efrained  from  firing  upon  the  little  Plymouth  vessel  as  it  passed  their 
fort,  they  speedily  sent  information  of  this  intolerable  encroachment  on 
their  assumed  rights  to  the  governor  of  New  Amsterdam.  That  func- 
tionary immediately  despatched  a  force  to  the  Connecticut  to  drive  out 
the  intruders.  This  force,  with  that  at  the  trading-post,  numbered  about 
seventy  men,  and,  having  landed,  marched  boldly  towards  the  Plymouth 
post.  Captain  Holmes,  who  commanded  the  little  band  of  Englishmen, 
and  who  had  defied  the  Dutch  when  he  passed  their  fort,  was  not  at  all 
dismayed  by  this  martial  display,  and  when  summoned  to  surrender  he 


EMIGRANTS  FROM  MASSACHUSETTS.  305 

plumply  refused,  and  intimated  that  he  was  prepared  to  fight.  The 
Dutch,  afraid  to  attack  the  little  fortification,  or  unwilling  to  commence 
actual  hostilities,  finding  that  their  show  of  force  would  not  drive  the 
English  away,  concluded  to  abandon  the  attempt,  and  retired. 

These  pioneer  traders  were  soon  to  be  followed  by  settlers,  who  came 
to  plant  a  permanent  colony.  In  1633,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,  a  clergy- 
man of  the  established  church,  who  had  been  obliged  to  fly  from  Eng- 
land for  non-conformity,  with  a  number  of  his  old  parishioners,  who 
were  greatly  attached  to  him,  arrived  at  Boston  and  settled  at  Newtown. 
Some  of  them  were  men  of  substance,  and  they  were  disposed  to  go 
"where  they  could  find  more  room,  especially  where  there  were  "meadow- 
lands  "  on  which  to  pasture  their  cattle.  It  was  proposed  that  they 
should  emigrate  to  the  Connecticut  valley,  so  highly  praised  by  the  In- 
dians; but  the  Puritan  magistrates  were  opposed  to  the  departure  of 
these  valuable  citizens.  The  matter  was  brought  before  the  court,  and 
discussed  pro  and  con.  Mr.  Hooker  advocated  it,  on  the  ground  that 
the  settlements  about  Boston  were  too  crowded;  that  it  would  be  wiser 
to  have  them  more  widely  separated;  that  there  was  a  want  of  good 
land,  and  especially  of  meadow  land.  Mr.  Cotton  opposed  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  greatly  weaken  the  colony  by  taking  away  so  val- 
uable a  part  of  it;  that  their  greatest  poverty  was  a  poverty  of  men;  and 
that  the  emigrants  would  be  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  savages.  The 
court  voted  that  they  ought  not  to  go,  and  the  consequence  was  a  dissen- 
sion, which  continued  till  the  following  year,  when  permission  was  given 
for  those  who  desired  to  go  whither'  they  would,  provided  they  continued 
under  the  Massachusetts  government. 

In  the  mean  time,  some  of  the  settlers  at  Watertown  had  emigrated 
without  waiting  for  leave  to  go.  They  started  in  the  autumn,  and  the 
difficulties  of  the  journey  were  such  that  winter  had  already  come  when 
they  reached  the  Connecticut  valley  and  selected  for  their  settlement  the 
present  site  of  Wethersfield. 

The  first  emigration  under  the  permission  of  the  court  was  composed 
of  some  sixty  men,  women,  and  children  from  Dorchester,  near  Boston, 
with  cows,  horses,  swine,  and  household  goods.  The  journey  of  such  a 
company  through  the  forest,  where  they  were  often  obliged  to  cut  a  path 
over  rocky  hills  and  through  spongy  swamps,  across  brooks  and  rivers, 

NO.  vin.  39 


306  PIONEERS  AND   SETTLERS  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

was  a  long  and  difficult  one.  But  the  men  were  bold  and  energetic; 
with  their  axes  they  cut  a  pathway,  and  with  their  muskets  in  hand  they 
were  prepared  for  any  hostile  attack;  and  the  women  and  children 
cheerfully  bore  the  hardships  of  the  journey. 

It  was  the  i5th  of  October  when  they  started  on  their  journey,  and 
the  winter,  coming  unusually  early,  was  already  upon  them  when  they 
reached  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  On  the  i5th  of  November,  the 
river  was  frozen  over,  and  the  snow  was  deep  upon  the  ground.  They 
selected  for  their  settlement  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Windsor, 
near  the  trading-post  of  the  Plymouth  colony,  but  they  had  not  time  to 
even  build  huts  for  themselves  and  sheds  for  their  cattle,  before  the  cold 
and  tempestuous  weather  subjected  them  to  great  suffering.  Their  prin- 
cipal supplies  and  furniture  had  been  sent  by  vessels,  which  had  been  so 
delayed,  or  wrecked,  by  the  severe  storms,  that  they  had  not  arrived  in 
the  river  before  it  was  frozen,  and  they  were  soon  short  of  provisions. 
Famine  and  death  looked  them  in  the  face,  and  some,  in  despair,  started 
back  through  the  wilderness  for  Boston,  one  of  whom  was  drowned  on 
the  way,  and  the  others  would  have  perished  but  .for  the  hospitality  of 
Indians.  A  majority  of  the  company  went  down  the  valley,  hoping  to 
meet  some  of  the  small  vessels  laden  with  their  provisions.  They  were 
disappointed  in  that  hope,  but  finding  another  small  trading  vessel  frozen 
in  some  twenty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  they  all  took  refuge 
on  board.  Those  who  remained  at  the  settlement  suffered  great  priva- 
tion, obtaining  a  little  game  by  hunting. and  a  small  quantity  of  corn 
from  the  Indians,  but  forced  at  last  to  live  on  acorns  and  roots. 

A  more  important  emigration  took  place  the  next  year.  This  was 
composed  principally  of  the  Newtown  people  who  had  before  sought 
permission  to  remove,  and  were  led  by  the  earnest  and  eloquent  Hooker, 
and  John  Haynes,  who,  the  previous  year,  had  been  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts. There  were  also  parties  from  Roxbury  and  Dorchester,  led 
by  Mr.  Pynchon  and  Mr.  Ludlow.  More  fortunate  than  their  predeces- 
sors on  this  long  and  tedious  journey,  they  started  the  last  of  May.  The 
season  was  favorable;  the  forest  was  putting  on  its  summer  dress,  wild 
flowers  had  begun  to  blossom,  and  the  birds  greeted  them  with  song. 
They  numbered  about  one  hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  all  of 
whom  travelled  on  foot  except  Mrs.  Hooker,  who,  being  sick,  was  car- 


HOOK.ER    AND     HIS     FRIENDS     REACH     THE    CONNECTICUT. 


ARRIVAL   IN  THE  PROMISED  LAND.  307 

ried  on  a  litter.  They  drove  a  herd  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  cattle,  and 
the  milk  of  the  cows  supplied  them  with  grateful  food. 

It  was  indeed  a  weary  journey  for  such  a  company  through  the  wil- 
derness hitherto  trodden  only  by  files  of  moccasoned  Indians,  save  where 
the  party  which  preceded  them  had  left  a  narrow  trail.  The  presence 
of  women  and  children  rendered  short  stages  necessary,  and  the  axe  was 
often  in  requisition  to  open  a  pathway  through  the  thickets,  and  to  bridge 
some  treacherous  swamp  or  swollen  stream,  while  it  was  no  easy  task  to 
keep  the  cattle  from  straying  into  the  woods.  At  night,  boughs  of  ever- 
green were  spread  for  the  couches  of  the  weary  travellers,  and  arranged 
in  bowers  to  shelter  the  less  hardy  from  the  dampness  and  cold.  But  it 
was  an  uncomplaining  company,  sustained  by  hope  and  a  pious  trust  in 
Providence.  Morning  and  evening  they  gathered  around  the  devout 
Hooker  while  he  lifted  up  his  voice  in  prayer  where  prayer  was  never 
heard  before,  and  cheered  them  with  the  promises  once  given  to  the 
wandering  Israelites.  At  last  they  looked  down  upon  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut,  spreading  out  its  broad  green  meadows,  through  which 
flowed  the  beautiful  river,  and  they  knelt  in  thanksgiving  that  their 
Canaan  was  at  last  reached. 

Though  they  made  the  journey  to  the  Connecticut  valley  together, 
the  parties  from  the  several  towns  intended  to  make  separate  settlements. 
The  Roxbury  people,  under  William  Pynchon,  stopped  at  Agawam, 
where  they  founded  the  town  of  Springfield;  those  from  Dorchester 
went  farther  down  the  river  to  join  their  friends  who  remained  at 
Windsor;  and  the  Newtown  or  Cambridge  people,  with  Mr.  Hooker 
and  Mr.  Haynes,  went  to  Suckiang,  still  farther  down,  and  commenced 
the  settlement  of  Hartford. 

The  year  previous  to  the  emigration  of  this  party,  John  Winthrop  the 
younger,  a  son  of  Governor  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  arrived  at  Bos- 
ton with  a  commission  from  Lords  Say  and  Brook,  who  held  the  first 
grant  of  Connecticut,  to  take  possession  of  the  country  in  their  behalf, 
and  establish  a  colony  there.  He  sent  from. Boston  a  small  vessel  with 
twenty  men  and  munitions  to  erect  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and 
thus  make  good  the  claim  of  his  principals.  This  party  landed  and 
erected  a  small  fort,  which  was  the  commencement  of  the  town  of  Say- 
brook.  The  Dutch  of  New '  Amsterdam,  as  already,  mentioned,  had 


308  PIONEERS  AND   SETTLERS  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

erected  a  fortified  trading-post  farther  up  the  river,  and  learning  that 
the  New  England  colonists  were  disposed  to  settle  in  the  valley,  deter- 
mined to  erect  another  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  they  could 
prevent  any  rival  trading  vessels  from  entering  the  waters  whose  wealth 
they  claimed  as  their  own.  An  expedition  was  accordingly  sent  for  that 
purpose,  but  when  they  saw  the  fort  which  had  been  erected  by  Win- 
throp's  order,  and  over  which  floated  the  English  colors,  they  acted  with 
the  same  discretion  they  had  shown  when  they  marched  up  to  the  fort 
of  the  Plymouth  people  at  Windsor,  and  sailed  away  again. 

The  early  settlers  of  Connecticut  brought  with  them  the  Bible  and 
the  principles  of  democratic  government,  and  though  they  mixed  them 
together  in  a  somewhat  peculiar  manner,  it  does  not  appear  that  either 
Bible  or  free  institutions  were  the  sufferers.  The  first  steps  taken  were 
for  the  management  of  each  settlement  by  its  own  people.  When  it 
became  desirable  for  them  to  unite  for  the  purposes  of  mutual  defence 
and  convenience,  the  union  was  entirely  voluntary,  for  they  were  acting 
under  no  charter  or  commission.  The  form  of  government  established 
was  more  liberal  than  that  of  Massachusetts.  Church-membership  was  not 
made  a  prerequisite  to  the  exercise  of  the  rights  of  freemen,  and  there 
was  rather  more  religious  toleration.  The  colony  managed  its  affairs  for 
a  long  time  without  any  charter,  and  quite  successfully.  Exposed  at  the 
outset  to  the  hostility  of  a  fierce  and  numerous  tribe  of  Indians,  with  the 
aid  of  Massachusetts  the  settlers  were  delivered  from  the  dangers  of  a 
long  and  terrible  savage  warfare.  Occupying  a  fruitful  soil,  after  the 
first  year  they  did  not  experience  want,  and  the  advantages  they  enjoyed 
soon  attracted  many  other  emigrants  to  their  several  settlements. 

Among  the  pioneers  in  these  earliest  settlements  in  Connecticut  the 
most  prominent  are  Haynes,  Ludlow,  and  Winthrop,  though  the  latter, 
while  identified  with  the  early  settlement  at  Saybrook,  was  not  an  actual 
settler  until  a  later  day. 

John  Haynes,  the  foremost  man  among  the  settlers  of  the  Connecticut 
valley,  was  a  man  of  wealth,  and  of  sterling  character  and  ability.  In 
Massachusetts,  he  was  made  assistant  upon  his  first  arrival,  and  in  1635 
he  was  chosen  governor,  and  served  without  any  charge  to  the  colony. 
He  was  a  man  of  liberal  views,  and  he  had  not  sympathized  with  those 


HATNES.    LUDLOW.     WINTHROP. 

who  drove  Roger  Williams  into  exile.  Joining  Mr.  Hooker's  church, 
he  went  with  them  to  Connecticut,  where  he  was  influential  in  shaping 
the  affairs  of  the  new  colony.  He  became  governor,  and  hig  wise  man- 
agement, integrity,  and  liberality  won  the  confidence  of  the  people,  so 
that  he  was  elected  governor  every  alternate  year,  the  constitution  or 
form  of  government  adopted  providing  against  a  re-election  of  an  in- 
cumbent. 

Ludlow,  the  next  most  prominent  man  among  the  early  settlers,  was 
no  less  able,  but  a  more  impetuous  and  ambitious  man.  He  had  aspired 
to  be  governor  of  Massachusetts,  and,  failing  in  that,  he  manifested  his 
disappointment  in  some  ill-natured  talk  about  the  assistants,  so  that  he 
was  left  out  of  the  magistracy  also.  Dissatisfied  with  Massachusetts,  he 
went  with  the  Dorchester  people  to  Connecticut,  where  his  ambition 
finally  was  gratified  by  being  made  deputy  governor,  and  by  his  talents 
he  rendered  the  colony  good  service. 

When  the  younger  Winthrop  came,  his  education,  talents,  and  char- 
acter soon  made  him  prominent.  While  not  lax  in  his  religious  opinions 
or  conduct,  he  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  material  welfare  of  the 
colony,  and  opposed  persecution  for  conscience'  sake.  He  was  chosen 
governor  in  1659,  and  was  re-elected  till  1676.  During  the  first  years  of 
his  service,  he  secured  a  charter  which  included  in  its  limits  the  colony 
of  New  Haven,  and  that  colony,  after  some  opposition,  was  united  with 
that  of  the  Connecticut  valley. 


XXXV. 


INDIAN  MURDERS  AND  ENGLISH  VENGEANCE. 


JHE  settlers  of  Connecticut  had  come  to  a  region  inhab- 
ited by  a  numerous  and  warlike  tribe  of  Indians,  who 
from  the  first  appearance  of  the  whites  manifested  their 
hostility  and  their  treacherous  character.  The  first  serious 
act  of  treachery  and  hostility  was  the  murder  of  Captain 
Stone  and  all  his  crew  in  1634,  before  the  settlers  came 
to  the  valley.  Stone  was  a  daring  adventurer  who 
brought  himself  into  disrepute  at  Boston  by  some  of  his 
actions,  and  escaping  punishment  for  some  offence  there,  he  went  with 
his  vessel  to  the  Connecticut  River  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  Mooring 
his  vessel  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  he  engaged  some  Indians  to  pilot 
two  of  his  men  up  to  the  Dutch  trading-house  already  established  near 
the  site  of  Hartford.  At  night  these  men  fell  asleep  and  were  both 
murdered  by  their  guides.  In  the  mean  time  there  were  a  number  of 
Indians  on  board  the  vessel  who  had  been  trading  with  the  captain, 
and  appeared  to  be  friendly.  Stone  was  not  very  cautious,  and  per- 
mitted some  of  his  men  to  go  on  shore,  while  he  went  to  sleep  in  his 
cabin.  The  temptation  was  too  great  for  the  savage  nature  of  the  In- 
dians, and  they  murdered  him.  When  the  crew  returned,  the  savages 
attacked  them  also,  and  killed  all  except  Captain  Norton,  an  associate 
of  Stone's,  who,  taking  to  the  cook's  galley,  defended  himself  bravely 
with  his  gun.  In  order  to  load  and  fire  as  rapidly  as  possible,  he  placed 
his  powder  in  an  open  vessel,  and  by  some  means  it  exploded,  and  so 
injured  and  blinded  him  that  he  could  make  no  further  resistance,  and 
he  soon  shared  the  fate  of  his  companions. 

,310 


CAPTURE   OF  JOHN  OLDHAM' S  VESSEL.  311 

The  Indians  declared  that  this  massacre  was  an  act  of  retaliation  for 
the  murder  of  one  of  their  sachems.  They  said  that  he  had  been  en- 
ticed on  board  the  vessel,  and  was  held  a  prisoner  until  he  should  be 
ransomed;  and  when  they  had  collected  the  wampum  which  was  de- 
manded, and  sent  it  on  board,  their  sachem  was  sent  back  to  them  dead. 
For  this,  they  averred,  the  sachem's  son,  finding  Captain  Stone  drunk 
in  his  cabin,  had  killed  him. 

Whether  there  was  really  such  provocation  or  not,  the  act  caused 
some  ill  feeling  in  Massachusetts,  and,  with  other  hostile  acts,  led  ulti- 
mately to  the  Pequot  war.  The  Pequots  were  a  formidable  tribe,  em- 
bracing a  number  of  small  tribes  or  clans,  and  inhabiting  the  southern 
and  eastern  portions  of  the  present  state  of  Connecticut.  Sassacus,  the 
principal  sachem,  dwelt  near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Thames,  where  he 
had  two  considerable  towns  or  villages  surrounded  with  palisades.  He 
was  a  warlike  savage,  and  was  exceedingly  hostile  towards  the  English, 
and  it  was  supposed  that,  if  he  did  not  instigate  the  murder  of  Captain 
Stone,  he  shared  in  the  plunder  of  his  vessel. 

There  was  a  standing  feud  between  the  Pequots  and  the  Narragan- 
setts,  the  other  most  powerful  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  southern  New  Eng- 
land; and  at  one  time  Sassacus  sent  messengers  to  Boston  to  seek  an 
alliance  with  the  colonists,  in  order  to  strengthen  himself  against  his  old 
enemies.  The  governor,  however,  refused  to  treat  with  them  because 
they  did  not  come  with  proper  "  credentials,"  and  he  doubted  their  good 
faith.  Other  messengers  were  then  sent,  who  bore  some  tokens  of  their 
authority  to  treat,  and  they  were  received,  and  a  treaty  of  friendship  was 
entered  into.  But  there  was  apparently,  on  the  part  of  the  English, 
some  distrust  of  the  good  faith  of  the  Indians,  and  perhaps  a  purpose  of 
treachery  on  the  part  of  the  latter,  and  the  treaty  was  really  of  no  account. 

John  Oldham  was  not  a  favorite  with  the  Puritans,  who  had  heard  of 
his  undignified  exit  from  Plymouth  for  an  offence  as  grievous  to  them  as 
it  was  to  the  Pilgrims,  but  his  murder  by  the  Indians  led  to  the  first  war- 
like expedition  of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  After  his  banishment  from 
Plymouth,  Oldham  engaged  in  trading  and  fishing.  In  1636  he  went  in 
a  small  vessel  to  Connecticut,  and  on  his  return,  when  off  Block  Island, 
his  vessel  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  he  was  killed,  and  two  boys,  and 
two  of  the  Narragansett  tribe  who  were  with  him,  were  carried  off. 


312  INDIAN  MURDERS  AND  ENGLISH  VENGEANCE. 

One  fair  day  in  July,  John  Gallup,  coming  from  Connecticut  in  another 
small  vessel,  manned  by  himself,  his  two  boys,  and  one  other  sailor,  saw 
a  pinnace  near  Block  Island,  and  steering  towards  it,  discovered  that  the 
deck  was  filled  with  Indians,  and  that  a  canoe  laden  with  goods  was 
making  for  the  shore.  As  Gallup's  vessel  approached,  the  Indians 
hoisted  sail  and  attempted  to  get  away;  but  Gallup,  satisfied  that  there 
had  been  mischief,  and  being  a  bold  man,  got  out  his  two  guns  and  two 
pistols,  and  bearing  down  on  the  pinnace,  fired  duck-shot  at  them  with 
such  effect  that  he  drove  them  all  below  deck.  He  then  stood  off  for 
the  purpose  of  trying  the  game  of  the  ancient  galley,  or  the  more  mod- 
ern "ram."  Under  a  stiff  breeze  he  bore  down  upon  the  pinnace,  and, 
striking  her  amidships  with  the  bow  of  his  own  vessel,  he  nearly  upset 
her,  and  so  frightened  the  Indians  that  six  of  them  jumped  overboard 
and  were  drowned.  There  were  still  too  many  Indians  for  him  to  en- 
counter, and  he  repeated  the  manoeuvre  and  bored  the  pinnace  with  his 
anchor,  remaining  fast  long  enough  to  give  the  savages  another  taste  of 
the  duck-shot  through  the  hatchway.  Getting  free  again,  he  bore  down 
upon  the  little  vessel  a  third  time,  and  gave  her  such  a  shock  that  five 
more  of  the  Indians  leaped  overboard  and  were  drowned. 

The  number  of  Indians  was  now  so  reduced  that  the  intrepid  Gallup 
ventured  to  board  his  prize.  Two  Indians  surrendered,  and  were  im- 
mediately bound;  but  two  or  three  others  remained  below  with  their 
weapons,  and  would  not  yield.  It  now  appeared  that  the  pinnace  was 
Oldham's  vessel,  and  the  remains  of  the  owner,  his  head  split  with  a  hatchet 
and  his  body  shockingly  mangled,  were  found  on  board.  What  to  do  with 
his  prize  and  his  captives  was  a  problem  with  Gallup.  With  only  one 
man  and  two  boys,  he  could  not  well  take  care  of  his  two  prisoners  and 
manage  the  two  vessels,  while  there  was  danger  that  the  Indians  below 
might  come  on  deck  at  any  moment,  should  they  see  a  chance  to  take 
him  or  his  companions  unawares.  The  prisoners,  too,  though  bound, 
might  contrive  to  release  each  other.  He  promptly  prevented  the  lat- 
ter contingency  by  throwing  them  overboard,  and,  not  being  able  to 
get  at  the  other  Indians  in  the  hold,  he  took  what  goods  and  sails  were 
left,  and  then  sailed  away,  with  the  pinnace  in  tow.  But  when  night 
came  on,  the  wind  rose,  and  he  was  obliged  to  cast  her  adrift,  and  she 
was  wrecked  on  the  Narragansett  shore. 


ENDICOT  SENT  TO  PUNISH  THE  MURDERERS.  313 

The  Indians  at  Block  Island,  if  not  a  branch  of  the  Narragansetts, 
were  as  closely  associated  with  them  as  with  the  Pequots,  and  there  was 
reason  to  suppose  that  some  of  the  Narragansett  sachems  had  been  privy 
to  the  attack  on  Oldham's  vessel.  But  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh, 
through  the  influence  of  Roger  Williams,  were  friendly  to  the  whites, 
and  the  latter  went  with  a  force  of  his  warriors  to  punish  the  offenders. 
Canonicus  sent  to  Governor  Vane,  of  Massachusetts,  a  letter  written  by 
Williams,  in  which  he  deplored  the  affair,  and  gave  assurances  of  his 
friendship.  The  Massachusetts  magistrates  were  not  admirers  of  the 
Narragansetts  because  of  their  friendly  conduct  towards  Williams  and 
others  obnoxious  to  the  Puritans,  and  though  Vane  probably  did  not 
share  this  feeling,  he  was  disposed  to  believe  that  some  of  that  tribe 
were  responsible  for  the  outrage.  He  therefore  sent  word  to  Canonicus 
that  Oldham's  two  boys  must  be  returned,  and  that  the  perpetrators  of 
the  offence  must  be  punished.  The  boys  were  soon  sent  back,  and  one 
of  the  suspected  Indians  was  also  delivered  up.  Messengers  were  also 
sent  to  treat  with  Canonicus  for  future  friendly  relations.  The  sachem 
received  them  with  "great  pomp,  and  feasted  them  on  "  boiled  chestnuts 
and  blackberry  pudding,"  but  he  was  too  wary  to  bind  himself  with 
conditions. 

The  Massachusetts  magistrates  were  not  satisfied.  There  was  an 
uneasiness  among  the  Indians,  and  the  hostility  of  the  Pequots  especially 
was  becoming  manifest.  The  government  of  the  Massachusetts  colony, 
as  the  largest  and  strongest,  felt  that  it  must  by  decisive  measures  put 
a  stop  to  savage  treachery  and  hostilities.  Accordingly  John  Endicot 
was  sent  with  a  force  of  ninety  men,  with  instructions  to  land  at  Block 
Island  and  put  to  death  all  the  men,  but  to  spare  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. This  was  to  avenge  the  death  of  Oldham;  and  after  accom- 
plishing this,  he  was  directed  to  proceed  to  Connecticut,  and  demand 
from  the  Pequots  the  murderers  of  Captain  Stone  and  his  crew,  together 
•with  an  indemnity  in  the  shape  of  a  large  quantity  of  wampum,  and 
some  Pequot  children,  to  be  held  as  hostages. 

With  some  difficulty,  on  account  of  the  surf,  Endicot  landed  at 
Block  Island.  The  Indians  made  some  show  of  resistance,  but  after 
sending  a  flight  of  arrows  at  the  invaders,  they  betook  themselves  to 
the  thicket  of  dwarf  oaks  and  bushes.  They  had  on  the  island  two 

NO.  viu.  40 


314  INDIAN  MURDERS  AND  ENGLISH  VENGEANCE. 

large  plantations,  with  a  good  supply  of  corn,  and  about  sixty  wigwams. 
Endicot  destroyed  the  corn,  and  burned  every  wigwam  he  could  find, 
and  in  the  course  of  two  days  hunted  out  and  killed  fourteen  Indians. 
He  then  re-embarked,  and  sailed  to  carry  out  his  instructions  with  regard 
to  the  Pequots. 

Stopping  at  Saybrook,  where  Winthrop's  fort  was  erected,  he  sought 
the  assistance  of  Lieutenant  Gardiner,  who  was  in  command  with  a 
small  force.  Gardiner  was  opposed  to  the  expedition  of  Endicot,  saying, 
"  You  come  hither  to  raise  these  wasps  about  my  ears,  and  then  you  will 
take  wing  and  flee  away; "  but,  against  his  judgment,  he  sent  some  of  his 
men  with  it.  Sailing  to  the  Mystic  River,  where  Sassacus,  the  principal 
sachem  of  the  Pequots,  dwelt,  he  landed  with  his  force,  to  the  great  con- 
sternation of  the  Indians.  He  at  once  demanded  the  heads  of  the  mur- 
derers of  Captain  Stone,  and  also  an  interview  with  Sassacus.  Being 
told  that  Sassacus  was  absent,  he  asked  for  the  next  sachem  in  authority; 
but  the  Indians,  pretending  that  he  could  not  be  found,  secured  a  delay 
of  some  hours,  and  in  the  mean  time  removed  their  women  and  children. 

Finding  he  had  been  duped,  Endicot  marched  to  one  of  their  villages, 
burned  the  deserted  wigwams,  destroyed  the  growing  corn,  and  broke 
the  canoes.  The  next  day,  he  landed  on  the  west  shore  and  desolated 
the  neighborhood  in  the  same  way,  the  Indians  viewing  from  a  distance 
the  work  of  destruction,  but  not  venturing  to  resist.  Having  accom- 
plished so  much  to  intimidate,  as  he  supposed,  the  hostile  savages,  he 
again  embarked,  and  leaving  the  Saybrook  men  to  return  to  the  fort  in 
their  shallop,  he  sailed  away  for  Boston. 

Gardiner's  declaration  that  Endicot  would  "  raise  these  wasps  "  proved 
true.  When  the  expedition  left  Saybrook,  he  had  expressed  the  hope 
that,  if  they,  did  not  bring  back  their  barks  laden  with  Pequots,  they 
might  bring  them  laden  with  corn.  After  Endicot's  departure,  his  men, 
in  obedience  to  his  instructions,  went  on  shore  again  to  take  some  of  the 
corn  not  wholly  destroyed.  While  doing  this  they  were  fiercely  attacked 
by  the  Indians,  but  by  a  brave  resistance  they  were  able  to  reach  their 
vessel,  and  escaped  with  several  wounded. 


XXXVI. 


THE    PEQUOT  WAR. 


iNDICOT'S    attack,    instead    of    intimidating    the    Indians, 
{  served  to  exasperate  them.     The  Pequots  were  the  most 
f  warlike  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  New  England;  they  were 
feared  by  all  the  other  tribes  on  account  of  their  num- 
bers   and   their   bravery,  and,  proud   of  their  superiority 
over   their    neighbors,   they  were  by  no   means   ready  to 
yield  to  a  few  whites.     Treacherous  and  cruel,  they  com- 
menced a  warfare  which,  if  continued,  would  soon   have 
destroyed  the  little  settlements  of  Connecticut. 

Not  long  after  Endicot's  expedition,  as  five  of  the  Saybrook  garri- 
son were  carrying  hay  from  a  meadow  at  some  distance  from  the  fort, 
they  were  surprised  by  a  party  of  Indians.  One  of  them  was  captured, 
and  was  afterwards  tortured  to  death;  the  others  escaped  to  the  fort, 
though  one  was  pierced  with  five  arrows.  A  few  days  after  this,  Joseph 
Tilly,  master  of  a  small  vessel,  with  one  of  his  men,  went  on  shore  to 
shoot  fowls.  Upon  the  discharge  of  his  gun  he  was  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  Pequots,  who  killed  his  companion  and  took  him  prisoner. 
Upon  him  the  savages  practised  their  cruelty,  hacking  off  first  his  hands 
and  then  his  feet,  and  otherwise  torturing  him,  as  if  for  the  purpose 
of  making  him  cry  out  in  pain.  But  Tilly  was  a  man  of  great  nerve, 
and  he  understood  the  Indian  character.  Not  all  his  suffering  could 
extort  from  him  a  groan;  and  when  the  Indians  told  of  their  exploit, 
they  did  him  the  justice  of  pronouncing  him  a  "stout  man." 

The    Indians    now  kept    close  watch    upon   the  river  and   about   the 

315 


3i6  THE  PE^UOT  WAR. 

fort  at  Saybrook  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  any  unwary  parties  of  the 
English,  or  cutting  off  such  as  went  too  far  from  the  fort.  In  several 
instances  they  were  successful,  and  before  winter  the  garrison  was  so 
annoyed  by  this  stealthy  and  barbarous  warfare  that  they  were  obliged 
to  keep  under  the  cover  of  their  guns.  Their  houses  outside  the  fort 
were  torn  down,  their  haystacks  burned,  their  cattle  killed  or  wounded. 
The  fort  itself  seemed  in  danger,  for  the  little  garrison  was  reduced  in 
numbers,  and  Captain  Mason,  with  twenty  men,  was  sent  from  Hartford 
to  re-enforce  it. 

While  Mason  was  at  Saybrook,  a  party  of  Pequots  waylaid  some  of 
the  people  of  Wethersfield  as  they  were  going  to  their  fields  with  their 
cattle.  Falling  suddenly  upon  them  when  they  were  entirely  unprepared, 
the  Indians  killed  six  men  and  three  women,  and  slaughtered  twenty 
cattle.  They  also  carried  off  two  young  girls  as  captives,  who  were 
long  sought  in  vain,  and  were  mourned  with  a  deeper  sorrow  than  if 
they  had  fallen  victims  to  the  savage  tomahawk.  Fortunately  they  found 
a  friend  in  the  squaw  of  a  petty  sachem,  who  protected  them  with  such 
care  as  the  rude  life  of  the  Indians  allowed. 

The  Pequots,  having  thus  whetted  their  appetites  for  English  blood, 
determined  to  destroy  all  the  settlements  in  Connecticut.  The  haughty 
and  bold  Sassacus,  indeed,  aimed  at  the  destruction  of  all  the  whites 
in  New  England.  For  this  purpose  he  sought  an  alliance  with  his  old 
enemies,  the  Narragansetts,  urging  them  to  join  in  a  war  of  extermina- 
tion against  these  invaders  of  the  Indian  hunting-grounds.  Some  of  the 
minor  sachems  of  the  Narragansetts  were  not  unwilling  listeners  to  his 
plans  to  regain  what  the  white  man  had  artfully  deprived  them  of,  and 
to  rid  themselves  of  these  strangers  who  sought  to  be  their  masters.  But 
Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh,  the  grand  sachems,  who  had  thus  far  been 
friendly  to  the  English,  must  be  gained  over  to  the  plot,  and  join  in 
the  war  with  all  the  warriors  of  the  tribe.  To'  them  Sassacus  sent  his 
ablest  and  most  artful  sachems,  to  persuade  them  to  unite  with  him  in 
delivering  the  Indian  race  from  the  invaders. 

Rumors  of  the  hostile  movements  of  the  Pequots  had  already  reached 
the  Massachusetts  government,  and  Captain  Undcrhill  was  sent  with 
twenty  men  to  re-enforce  the  garrison  at  Saybrook.  In  this  time  of 
danger  the  Puritan  magistrates  also  sought  the  good  offices  of  Roger 


ROGER    WILLIAMS    OPPOSING    THE    PECJUOT    EMISSARIES 


ROGER  WILLIAMS  AND   THE  PEQUOT  EMISSARIES.       317 

Williams,  whom  they  had  driven  into  exile;  and  he,  cherishing  no  resent- 
ment towards  his  persecutors,  and  anxious  to  protect  the  homes  of  the 
settlers  from  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare,  promptly  responded  to  the 
request.  Alone  he  paddled  his  canoe  across  the  bay,  in  spite  of  storm, 
and  threaded  the  dismal  forest  to  the  home  of  Canonicus  and  Mianto- 
nomoh.  The  Pequot  emissaries  were  already  there,  and  the  young  men 
of  the  Narragansetts  were  but  too  ready  to  listen  to  their  appeals,  while 
they  were  using  all  their  eloquence  and  art  to  gain  over  the  more  cau- 
tious sachems. 

Arrayed  in  their  war-paint,  these  wily  ambassadors  artfully  narrated 
all  the  encroachments  of  the  whites,  and  the  injustice  and  cruelty  which 
had  been  practised,  and  enumerated  the  lives  of  red  men  which  had  been 
sacrificed  by  the  invaders;  and  they  appealed  to  the  pride  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts to  maintain  their  possessions  inviolate,  and  to  join  hands  with  their 
kindred  and  exterminate  these  white  enemies  of  their  race,  who  would 
otherwise  exterminate  them.  Against  the  cunning  artifices  of  these 
emissaries,  who  knew  so  well  how  to  arouse  the  Indian  spirit,  Williams 
opposed  the  gentler  words  of  peace  and  good-will.  He  was  himself  an 
example  of  justice  and  friendship  towards,  the  natives,  and  by  Canonicus 
and  his  nephew  he  was  held  in  great  respect.  He  appealed  to  them 
to  continue  the  friendship  they  had  hitherto  manifested  towards  him  and 
his  people,  and  not  to  join  with  their  old  enemies  to  sacrifice  their 
friends.  Understanding  well  the  Indian  character,  he  boldly  combated 
the  cunning  arguments  and  fierce  appeals  of  the  Pequot  sachems,  and 
for  three  days  and  nights  he  remained  in  the  wigwam  of  Canonicus, 
speaking  in  the  council,  or  privately  urging  his  mission  of  peace. 

The  mission  was  not  without  danger.  The  savage  messengers  of 
Sassacus  would  willingly  have  buried  their  tomahawks  in  the  brain  of 
their  bold  but  peaceful  opponent  had  they  dared  thus  to  violate  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  Narragansett  sachems,  and  there  were  some  young  warriors 
who  were  restrained  only  by  fear  of  their  chiefs  from  secretly  putting 
him  out  of  the  way.  But  with  the  principal  sachems  his  words  pre- 
vailed. They  could  not  forget  that  the  Pequots  were  their  old  and 
most  dangerous  enemies,  who,  having  disposed  of  the  whites,  might 
wage  a  war  of  extermination  upon  their  tribe;  while  with  the  powerful 
whites  as  their  allies  they  might  revenge  their  own  wrongs  and  losses. 


318  THE  PE^UOT  WAR. 

The  proposed  league  was  rejected,  and  the  Pequot  messengers  returned 
unsuccessful  in  their  efforts;  but  the  fierce  Sassacus  was  not  deterred 
from  his  purpose. 

Williams,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  had  thus  secured  the  friendship  or 
the  neutrality  of  the  Narragansetts,  and  saved  the  settlements,  not  only 
of  Rhode  Island,  but  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  terrors  of  a  savage  war, 
and  he  returned  well  satisfied  to  Providence,  and  notified  the  Massachu- 
setts government  of  his  success.  For  this  generous  and  invaluable  ser- 
vice, while  Winthrop  and  others  were  disposed  to  pass  a  vote  of  thanks, 
there  were  some  among  the  Puritans  who  could  not  forget  his  heretical 
doctrines,  and  refused  to  allow  him  any  merit. 

The  settlements  in  Connecticut,  numbering  not  much  more  than 
three  hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  were  now  exposed  to  the 
avowed  hostility  of  a  savage  tribe  that  could  muster  a  thousand  warriors. 
They  must  at  once  prepare  for  resistance;  and  the  court,  having' assem- 
bled at  Hartford,  boldly  declared  war  against  the  Pequots,  and  levied 
on  the  several  settlements  for  a  force  of  ninety  men  —  a  small  army, 
truly,  to  contend  with  so  numerous  an  enemy.  But  they  had  an  ally  in 
Uncas,  the  chief  of  the  Mohegans,  a  tribe  inhabiting  a  region  west  of 
the  Connecticut  River,  who  were  even  more  bitter  enemies  of  the  Pe- 
quots than  the  Narragansetts  had  been.  He  was  ready  enough  to  join 
the  whites  with  a  hundred  warriors. 

The  little  army  of  Connecticut  assembled  at  Hartford  in  the  latter 
part  of  May,  and  to  Captain  John  Mason  was  given  the  command. 
Mason  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Netherlands,  long  the  school  of  war  for 
Englishmen,  and  he  was  so  good  a  soldier  that,  at  a  later  period,  his  old 
commander  desired  that  he  should  return  to  England  and  engage  in  the 
civil  war.  It  was  a  day  of  great  anxiety  in  the  settlement,  for  all  felt 
that  upon  this  small  force  of  brave  men  depended  the  safety  of  homes 
and  the  lives  of  women  and  children,  and  if  a  decisive  blow  was  not 
struck  quickly,  the  wily  and  treacherous  savages  might  elude  the  armed 
force,  and  desolate  the  unprotected  hamlets.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker 
offered  prayer,  and  besought  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  the  expedition; 
and  then  the  company  embarked  in  small  vessels,  and  sailed  down  the 
river  to  meet  their  ally,  Uncas,  who  awaited  them  near  Saybrook.  At 
that  place  Captain  Underbill,  with  his  twenty  Massachusetts  men,  who 


TIMID  NATIVES. 

had  come  to  re-enforce  the  fort,  joined  Mason,  and  then  the  whole  force 
of  whites  and  Indians  sailed  eastward  to  the  Mystic  River. 
.  The  Pequots,  in  their  palisaded  stronghold  on  one  of  the  neighboring 
heights,  saw  the  vessels  pass  the  river  and  disappear,  and  fancied  that 
their  enemies  had  vanished  through  fear.  In  their  exultation  they  spent 
the  early  hours  of  the  night  in  revelry,  with  no  forebodings  of  the  evils 
which  were  to  come.  The  English,  however,  went  to  meet  the  Narra- 
gansett  sachem,  Miantonomoh,  who  had  engaged  to  join  in  the  war 
against  their  old  enemies.  With  a  military  escort,  the  captains  of  the 
little  force  of  whites  repaired  to  the  camp  of  the  Narragansetts,  where 
a  grand  council  was  held.  Miantonomoh  was  brave,  but  he  held  the 
fierce  Pequots  in  fear.  *  Your  numbers  are  too  weak,"  he  said,  "  to 
brave  the  Pequots,  who  have  mighty  chieftains,  and  are  powerful  in 
battle."  He  did  not  know  that  civilized  men,  with  fire-arms,  were  more 
than  a  match  for  threefold  their  numbers  of  savages,  with  their  rude 
weapons  and  undisciplined  bravery.  He  was  unwilling  to  risk  defeat, 
and  refused  to  join  in  what  he  considered  the  desperate  enterprise. 

Mason  resolved,  in  spite  of  this  defection,  to  carry  out  his  design  of 
a  sudden  and  secret  assault  on  the  enemy,  and  with  his  Mohegan  allies 
he  returned  by  night  to  a  position  about  two  miles  from  the  Pequot  fort. 
Two  hours  before  day  he  was  ready  for  the  attack,  but  before  making 
the  final  advance,  the  English  knelt  and  devoutly  commended  themselves 
to  the  God  of  battles.  The  moon  shone  brightly,  enabling  the  assailants 
to  move  without  difficulty,  and  they  pressed  forward  eagerly,  though  in 
silence. 

When  he  had  reached  a  point  from  which  the  assault  could  be  made, 
Mason  waited  for  his  Indian  allies  to  come  up.  For  some  time  not  an 
Indian  appeared;  but  at  last  Uncas,  with  a  renegade  Pequot,  who  acted 
as  guide,  appeared.  "Where  are  the  rest  of  the  Indians?"  inquired 
Mason.  "  Behind,  very  much  afraid,"  was  the  reply.  Vexed  at  their 
cowardice,  Mason  said,  "  Tell  them  not  to  fly,  but  to  stand  off  as  far  as' 
they  please,  and  see  whether  Englishmen  will  fight." 

The  Indian  fort  was  an  area  of  about  twenty  acres,  surrounded  by  a 
strong  palisade.  In  it  there  were  sixty  or  seventy  wigwams,  built  along 
some  irregular  streets  or  lanes.  There  were  two  entrances,  one  on  the 
east  and  the  other  on  the  west  side,  and  it  was  arranged  that  Mason 


3 20  THE  PE$_UOT  WAR. 

should  force  open  one,  while  Underhill  moved  to  the  other  side  and 
forced  the  other.  Mason  had  approached  within  a  rod  of  the  palisade 
when  a  dog  barked,  and  immediately  after,  some  of  the  Indians,  seeing 
the  English,  raised  an  alarm.  No  time  was  to  be  lost,  and  calling  up 
his  troops,  the  intrepid  leader  advanced  to  the  entrance.  It  was  blocked 
with  bushes  about  breast-high,  but  Mason  leaped  over  them,  sword  in 
hand,  and  entered  the  enclosure,  followed  by  his  lieutenant  with  sixteen 
men.  Seeing  no  Indians,  he  entered  one  of  the  cabins,  when  he  found 
himself  confronted  by  a  number  of  warriors,  who  were  astounded  at  the 
sudden  apparition.  They  quickly  recovered  sufficiently  to  attack  the 
solitary  Englishman,  but  with  his  sword  he  killed  his  first  assailant,  and 
was  stoutly  defending  himself,  when  one  of  his  men  came  to  his  assist- 
ance. The  savages  then  gave  way  and  escaped. 

It  was  Mason's  purpose  to  kill  the  Indians,  but  to  save  their  property. 
Leaving  the  wigwam,  he  passed  through  the  lane  between  the  cabins 
with  his  men,  driving  the  Indians  before  him,  and  cutting  down  such  as 
came  within  reach.  At  the  farther  extremity  he  met  Underhill  and  his 
men,  who  had  forced  an  entrance  at  the  western  gate,  and  had  killed 
a  number  of  the  natives  who  were  endeavoring  to  escape  that  way. 
While  Underhill  prevented  escape  by  the  western  gateway,  Mason  and 
his  men  returned  through  the  lane,  the  Indians  swarming  from  the 
cabins  with  mingled  war-whoops  and  screams  of  fear.  Some  of  them 
discharged  their  arrows,  but  with  little  effect,  and  none  seemed  cool 
enough  to  make  any  determined  attack  on  the  handful  of  Englishmen 
who  marched  so  boldly  through  their  fortress.  It  was  evidently  a  hope- 
less task  for  the  latter  to  kill  this  horde  of  savages  in  the  way  Mason 
had  proposed.  But  a  victory  must  now  be  achieved,  or  the  women  and 
children  of  the  unprotected  settlements  would  speedily  fall  victims  to  the 
tomahawk  and  scalping-knife,  or  the  more  terrible  tortures  of  captivity. 
There  seemed  but  one  way,  and  Mason  exclaimed,  "We  must  burn 
them!"  Snatching  a  fire-brand  from  the  floor  of  one  of  the  cabins,  he 
applied  it  to  the  dry  mats  of  the  roof.  The  flames  spread  rapidly,  carried 
by  the  wind  from  cabin  to  cabin,  till  the  whole  village  was  on  fire.  The 
tumult  increased,  and  the  screams  of  Pequots  were  answered  by  the 
yells  of  Mohegans  without  the  palisade,  who  had  at  last  come  near  the 
fort.  Men,  women,  and  children  rushed  from  the  burning  wigwams,  and 


U 

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I 
h 

fc 
0 

z 

0 

p 
o 

3 

Hi 


MASON'S   VIC  TORT. 


321 


meeting  death  by  the  sword,  or  the  fearful  fire-arms,  fled  wildly  back  to 
perish  in  the  flames.  If  they  attempted  to  pass  over  the  palisades,  the 
light  of  the  conflagration  exposed  them  plainly  to  the  marksmen,  while 
the  Mohegans  were  ready  to  brain  them  if  they  escaped.  The  resistance 
of  the  warriors  with  their  bows  and  arrows,  or  their  clubs  and  tom- 
ahawks, was  unavailing.  Fear  palsied  their  hands,  and  they  shot  wildly 
and  without  effect,  while  the  English  sword  was  more  than  a  match  for 
the  rude  weapons  of  the  savage.  The  carnage  was  fearful,  and  soon 
the  tumult  within  was  drowned  by  the  yells  of  the  Mohegans  without  the 
palisade.  The  hissing  and  crackling  of  the  flames  subsided;  the  frail 
cabins  were  destroyed,  and  six  hundred  Pequots  —  men,  women,  and 
children  —  perished,  the  greater  part  of  them  in  the  flames  of  their 
dwellings. 

The  victory  and  the  carnage  were  complete;  not  one  of  the  Pequots 
survived.  Nor  had  the  English  escaped  without  loss;  two  of  them  were 
killed,  and  twenty  were  wounded.  The  surgeon  had  not  come  from  the 
boats;  provisions  and  ammunition  were  nearly  exhausted;  the  situation 
was  critical,  for  the  enemy  was  yet  strong  in  another  fort.  Mason  pre- 
pared to  return  to  his  vessels,  a  considerable  portion  of  his  force  being 
required  to  carry  the  wounded.  While  making  preparations  to  move, 
a  body  of  Pequot  warriors  was  seen  approaching.  They  numbered 
three  hundred  or  more,  and  were  the  flower  of  the  tribe,  sent  by  Sas- 
sacus  from  his  other  stronghold,  a  few  miles  away,  when  he  heard  the 
sound  of  the  English  guns.  They  came  on  boldly,  as  if  confident  of 
success;  but  Mason's  marksmen  soon  checked  their  advance,  and  then 
his  forces  took  up  their  march  for  the  vessels,  the  Mohegans  taking 
good  care  to  lead  the  way. 

When  the  English  had  retired,  the  Indians  advanced,  and  then  saw 
for  the  first  time  the  work  of  destruction,  and  the  piles  of  their  dead 
kindred.  Their  sorrow  and  rage  were  expressed  in  fearful  yells,  and, 
burning  for  revenge,  they  rushed  madly  down  the  hill  as  if  they  would 
annihilate  the  little  force  of  English.  Captain  Underhill  with  his  men 
protected  the  rear,  and  checked  the  fierce  onset  of  the  enraged  savages. 
But  concealing  themselves  behind  trees  and  rocks,  they  discharged  their 
arrows  from  their  hiding-places,  and  sometimes  rushed  out  for  a  closer 
conflict.  Underbill's  muskets,  however,  dealt  death  and  wounds  to  all 

NO.  ix.  41 


322  THE   PEQUOT  WAR. 

who  exposed  themselves,  and  at  last,  wearied  out  and  discouraged,  they 
abandoned  the  pursuit,  and  retired  to  indulge  in  lamentations  over  their 
lost  kindred,  and  to  upbraid  their  haughty  sachem. 

Reaching  Pequot  Harbor,  where  their  vessels  lay,  the  larger  part 
of  the  English  embarked.  Lest,  thirsting  for  revenge,  some  prowling 
bands  of  Pequots  should  make  a  sudden  attack  on  the  settlements, 
they  hastened  home.  The  anxiety  of  those  remaining  in  the  towns 
during  the  absence  of  the  little  army  may  well  be  imagined.  Only  a 
few  men  and  fewer  arms  remained  for  their  protection.  With  fear  and 
trembling  the  mother  put  her  babes  to  rest,  dreading  lest  the  night  might 
not  pass  without  the  sound  of  the  terrible  war-whoop  or  the  blow  of  the 
tomahawk.  Prayers  for  the  safety  of  those  who  had  gone  to  fight  a 
wily  and  savage  foe  ascended  constantly  from  each  cottage.  Spring, 
just  ripening  into  summer,  had  clothed  woods  and  meadows  with  beauty, 
but  the  season  of  joy  and  promise  was  made  gloomy  by  fear  and  anxiety. 
When,  after  three  weeks  of  absence,  the  little  vessels  came  sailing  up 
the  river,  great  was  the  relief  and  the  joy  of  the  settlers,  and  fervent 
were  the  thanksgivings  for  the  victory  which  Providence  had  granted. 

Underbill,  with  the  smaller  portion  of  the  troops,  marched  across  the 
land  to  Saybrook  fort,  where  they  were  welcomed  by  Gardiner  with  all 
the  honors  due  to  victors,  and  were  "  nobly  entertained  with  many 
great  guns." 

Intelligence  of  Mason's  achievement  was  immediately  sent  to  Boston, 
with  a  request  for  aid  to  finish  the  war.  Massachusetts,  whose  ill-advised 
expedition  under  Endicot  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  Pequot  hostility, 
promptly  responded  to  the  call  for  help,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
men  were  sent,  under  the  command  of  Stoughton,  to  aid  in  exterminating 
the  enemy.  The  Massachusetts  troops,  landing  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mystic,  discovered  a  body  of  Pequots,  and  attacking  them,  killed  thirty 
men,  but  spared  the  women  and  children.  They  then  proceeded  to  Say- 
brook  fort,  where  they  were  joined  by  Mason  and  forty  men  raised  by 
the  Connecticut  settlements. 

The  power  of  the  Pequots  was  already  broken,  their  pride  was  hum- 
bled, and  they  were  completely  demoralized.  The  survivors  charged 
Sassacus,  the  sachem,  whom  they  had  hitherto  regarded  with  fear  and 
reverence,  with  being  the  cause  of  all  their  woes,  and  some  of  them 


THE  END   OF  THE  PEQUOTS.  323 

threatened  his  life.  They  could  no  longer  hold  the  land  they  had  con- 
quered, and  from  which  they  had  hurled  defiance  at  all  the  neighboring 
tribes;  and,  dividing  into  several  bands,  they  moved  westward  to  find 
new  homes,  which  were  never  reached. 

The  -colonial  troops  started  in  pursuit,  being  especially  anxious  to 
capture  Sassacus,  whose  savage  ambition  and  conceit  had  induced  his 
people  to  commence  hostilities.  Two  sachems  who  had  been  captured 
were  asked  to  point  out  the  trail  made  by  the  party  of  their  chief,  but, 
loyal  to  their  master,  they  persistently  refused,  and  were  forthwith  killed. 
Their  heads  were  set  up  on  poles,  as  a  terror  to  all  Indians  who  might 
behold  them,  and  the  place  where  they  were  exposed  is  still  known  as 
"Sachems'  Head." 

At  last  a  trail  of  the  retreating  Pequots  was  found,  and  followed  with 
all  possible  speed.  It  led  to  a  swamp,  within  which  it  was  discovered 
that  the  Indians  had  encamped.  Eighty  Pequot  warriors,  with  their 
families,  were  here  seeking  a  temporary  refuge  with  some  two  hundred 
Indians  of  a  tribe  which  inhabited  this  region.  With  difficulty  the  sol- 
diers penetrated  the  swamp,  and  being  unacquainted  with  the  ground, 
some  of  them  sank  in  the  morass  so  that  they  could  scarcely  extricate 
themselves.  In  this  condition  they  were  attacked  by  the  Indians  and 
forced  to  retire.  Encouraged  by  their  success,  the  savages  bade  defiance 
to  their  pursuers.  The  English  then  surrounded  the  swamp,  their  lim- 
ited numbers  compelling  them  to  place  their  men  some  distance  apart; 
but  the  lines  were  gradually  contracted,  so  that  the  Indians  were  really 
closely  besieged.  At  this  stage,  the  tribe  with  whom  the  Pequots  had 
taken  refuge  begged  for  quarter,  saying  that  they  had  taken  no  part  in 
the  war,  and  they  were  allowed  to  go  out.  The  Pequots,  however,  were 
still  defiant,  and  responded  with  flights  of  arrows  to  the  deadly  fire  of 
the  soldiers.  At  last,  taking  advantage  of  a  fog,  they  made  a  desperate 
sally  at  one  point  of  the  besiegers'  line.  There  was  a  brief  hand-to- 
hand  conflict,  and  then  fifty  warriors  escaped.  Twenty  had  already 
been  killed,  and  the  few  men  who  remained  could  no  longer  resist. 
One  hundred  and  eighty,  mostly  women  and  children,  were  taken 
prisoners,  with  all  their  little  stock  of  utensils  and  provisions  that 
they  were  taking  to  a  new  home.  Among  them  were  found  the  two 
girls  who  had  been  taken  captive  at  Wethersfield.  They  were  restored 


324  THE  PEQUOT   WAR. 

to  their  parents  in  safety,  and  the  squaw  who  had  befriended  them,  for 
her  kindness,  was  spared  the  fate  which  awaited  the  others. 

Sassacus,  with  a  few  followers,  made  his  way  to  the  Mohawks  and 
besought  their  friendship.  That  tribe,  however,  were  old  enemies  of  the 
Pequots,  and  the  fugitive  sachem  found  no  sympathy  in  his  misfortunes. 
They  treacherously  killed  him  and  his  men,  and  sent  his  scalp  to  the 
whites;  and  the  rulers  of  Connecticut,  rejoicing  in  the  destruction  of  so 
formidable  an  enemy,  sent  a  lock  of  hair  cut  from  the  trophy  to  their 
brethren  in  Massachusetts. 

The  captives  and  booty  were  divided  between  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut.  Some  of  those  apportioned  to  Massachusetts  were  sent 
to  the  West  Indies  and  sold  as  slaves,  —  an  act  of  cruelty  which  can  be 
palliated  only  by  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Most  of  the  others  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  friendly  tribes  of  Indians,  for  it  was  determined  that  the 
Pequot  tribe  should  no  longer  exist,  even  in  name. 

The  most  warlike  and  powerful  of  the  New  England  tribes  was  thus 
wiped  out  of  existence  by  a  mere  handful  of  English  settlers.  It  was  a 
fearful  destruction,  and  a  terribly  cruel  one.  But  on  the  part  of  the 
whites,  the  war  was  waged  in  self-defence.  The  terrible  massacres  in 
Virginia  told  them  to  what  fate  they  were  exposed,  so  long  as  hostile 
and  treacherous  savages  around  them  were  not  intimidated;  and  war, 
always  barbarous,  in  those  days  was  more  cruel  than  among  civilized 
nations  in  recent  times. 


XXXVII. 


COLONIES  OF  NEW  HAVEN  AND  SAYBROOK. 


HE  settlement  at  New  Haven  was  commenced  by  more 
rigid  and  zealous  Puritans  than  those  who  first  came  to 
the  Connecticut  valley.  The  Rev.  John  Davenport,  with 
Theophilus  Eaton  and  other  substantial  London  merchants, 
arrived  in  Boston  in  1637,  and  others  of  their  friends  were 
then  preparing  to  follow  them.  The  Massachusetts  rulers 
gave  them  a  hearty  welcome,  and  offered  inducements 
for  such  substantial  emigrants  to  settle  within  the  limits 
of  the  colony.  They,  however,  were  not  disposed  to  stop  there,  for 
two  reasons:  there  seemed  to  be  "no  good  lands"  to  be  taken  up,  and 
there  were  rumors  that  a  governor-general  of  the  existing  colonies  was 
to  be  appointed  by  the  king,  and  they  desired  to  get  beyond  the  reach 
of  a  royal  ruler.  The  pursuit  of  the  Pequots  beyond  the  Connecticut 
River  had  brought  to  notice  some  excellent  lands  and  good  situations 
for  settlements,  and  the  new  emigrants  at  once  sent  parties  to  purchase 
some  of  these  lands  of  the  Indians. 

In  March,  1638,  Davenport  and  Eaton,  with  a  considerable  company 
of  those  who  had  come  over  to  join  them,  went  by  water  from  Boston 
to  the  region  they  had  purchased,  and  on  a  pleasant  bay  called  by  the 
Indians  Quinnipiac,  they  established  their  settlement,  and  subsequently 
called  it  New  Haven.  The  next  year,  another  party  of  emigrants  from 
the  south  of  England  came  over  and  settled  at  Menunkatuck,  where  they 
founded  the  town  of  Guilford.  From  this  time  forward  new  parties 
came  from  England  and  the  older  settlements,  and  settling  in  the  vicinity 

325 


3  2  6  COL  ONT  OF  NE  W  HA  YEN. 

of  New  Haven,  came  shortly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  government 
there  set  up. 

The  leading  men  among  the  settlers  of  New  Haven  were  merchants 
from  London.  While  they  were  Puritans,  and  had  come  to  New  Eng- 
land to  escape  persecution,  they  were  also  men  of  trade,  and  hoped  to 
thrive  by  commerce.  Although  they  wanted  plenty  of  room  and  good 
lands,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  only  a  secondary  matter  with  them, 
and  they  proposed  to  found  a  trading  town,  to  barter  with  the  Indians, 
and  to  export  furs,  and  timber,  and  corn,  or  whatever  else  the  country 
might  produce.  Trade  and  commerce,  however,  did  not  prove  so  suc- 
cessful as  they  anticipated,  and  they  suffered  many  losses,  which  they 
piously  ascribed  to  "the  Lord  being  against  them." 

The  settlers  of  Guilford  were  gentlemen  and  yeomen,  and  almost  all 
of  them  planters,  and  finding  "  good  lands,"  they  led  a  quiet  and  con- 
tented life,  without  the  anxieties  of  the  New  Haven  merchants.  Among 
them  were  William  Leete,  who  was  .afterwards  governor  of  the  united 
colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  and  others  who  were  prom- 
inent in  the  early  affairs  of  the  colony. 

The  settlers  at  Milford  came  chiefly  from  Wethersficld.  The  pio- 
neers of  that  settlement  had  come  from  Massachusetts  without  the 
permission  of  the  General  Court,  and  in  opposition  to  its  decision. 
They  were  a  high-spirited  and  excitable  people,  and  apparently  were 
somewhat  adventurous  as  well  as  wilful.  They  were  not  by  any  means 
intimidated  when  the  Indians  murdered  some  of  their  number  and  carried 
off  two  children  into  captivity,  but  were  eager  to  fight  the  Pequots  and 
to  exterminate  them.  Their  spirit  of  independence  led  them  into  contro- 
versies among  themselves,  and  sometimes  they  carried  discord  into  the 
new  settlements  which  they  joined  by  renewing  their  controversies  there. 

The  first  year  there  was  no  civil  government  organized  by  these 
various  settlements,  but  the  settlers  entered  into  a  covenant  to  be  gov- 
erned "by  the  rules  which  the  Scripture  held  forth  to  them."  This 
seemed  sufficient  while  they  were  few  and  all  of  one  mind,  and  interpreted 
the  Scriptures  literally.  In  1639,  however,  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  free- 
men of  New  Haven  to  organize  some  sort  of  civil  government,  and,  as  they 
had  no  town-house  nor  meeting-house,  it  was  held  in  "  Mr.  Newman's 
barn."  A  simple  constitution  was  adopted,  which  provided  that  only 


THE  MOSAIC  CODE. 


327 


church-members  should  be  free  burgesses  or  voters;  and  as  no  church 
then  existed  by  uniting  with  which  men  might  become  free  burgesses, 
a  church  was  organized  with  "seven  pillars,"  as  a  foundation  for  the 
civil  government.  The  seven  pillars  of  the  church,  who  regulated  its 
affairs  and  the  admission  of  church-members,  subsequently  convened 
the  "  free  burgesses,"  and  they  chose  Mr.  Eaton  governor,  with  seven 
assistants,  or  magistrates.  The  colonists,  at  that  time,  did  not  require 
much  law,  and  experience  had  not  taught  them  what  they  did  need; 
but  they  meant  to  be  a  religious  community,  and,  believing  that  the 
Bible  was  the  only  safe  guide,  they  adopted  the  laws  of  Moses  as  their 
only  code,  and  the  governor  and  magistrates  were  expected  to  administer 
them.  For  some  years  the  Mosaic  law  was  duly  observed,  and  its  pen- 
alties enforced,  when  necessary.  But  when  new  towns  were  founded, 
and  population  increased,  and  interests  multiplied,  it  was  found  that 
Moses  had  not  prescribed  rules  exactly  adapted  to  their  condition  or 
state  of  society,  and  the  ancient  code  was  gradually  modified.  Minister 
Davenport  shaped  the  laws,  however,  and  they  were  still  based  on  the 
Bible,  but  in  some  respects  the  Mosaic  code  was  considerably  softened.* 

The  settlers  at  Guilford,  Milford,  and  other  places  about  New  Haven, 
adopted  the  same  method  of  regulating  church  and  civil  affairs,  and  for 
several  years  maintained  separate  organizations.  They  afterwards  found 
it  for  their  advantage  to  unite  under  one  government,  and  attached  them- 
selves to  that  of  New  Haven. 

Neither  the  colony  of  Connecticut  nor  that  of  New  Haven  had  any 
charter  or  grant  from  the  king,  directly  or  indirectly.  They  had  pur- 
chased their  lands  of  the  Indians,  and  set  up  their  governments  by  the 
will  of  the  people.  But  there  was  another  settlement  —  that  at  Say- 
brook —  which,  according  to  English  ideas,  had  a  superior  right  to  exist, 
and  to  organize  a  government.  The  fort  at  Saybrook  had  been  built, 
and  the  territory  adjacent  to  the  Connecticut  claimed,  under  the  patent 
granted  to  Lords  Say  and  Brook.  Those  noblemen  had  contemplated 
coming  to  America  themselves,  but  finally  abandoned  the  purpose. 
George  Fenwick  came  over  as  their  agent,  and  established  an  indepen- 
dent government  at.  Saybrook,  though  there  was  little  besides  the  fort 

*  The  "Blue  Laws"  of  Connecticut,  for  which  the  Puritans  have  been  so  much  ridiculed, 
never  had  any  existence  except  in  imagination. 


3  26  COL  ONT  OF  NE  W  HA  YEN. 

of  New  Haven,  came  shortly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  government 
there  set  up. 

The  leading  men  among  the  settlers  of  New  Haven  were  merchants 
from  London.  While  they  were  Puritans,  and  had  come  to  New  Eng- 
land to  escape  persecution,  they  were  also  men  of  trade,  and  hoped  to 
thrive  by  commerce.  Although  they  wanted  plenty  of  room  and  good 
lands,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  only  a  secondary  matter  with  them, 
and  they  proposed  to  found  a  trading  town,  to  barter  with  the  Indians, 
and  to  export  furs,  and  timber,  and  corn,  or  whatever  else  the  country 
might  produce.  Trade  and  commerce,  however,  did  not  prove  so  suc- 
cessful as  they  anticipated,  and  they  suffered  many  losses,  which  the}' 
piously  ascribed  to  "the  Lord  being  against  them." 

The  settlers  of  Guilford  were  gentlemen  and  yeomen,  and  almost  all 
of  them  planters,  and  finding  "  good  lands,"  they  led  a  quiet  and  con- 
tented life,  without  the  anxieties  of  the  New  Haven  merchants.  Among 
them  were  William  Leete,  who  was  .afterwards  governor  of  the  united 
colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  and  others  who  were  prom- 
inent in  the  early  affairs  of  the  colony. 

The  settlers  at  Milford  came  chiefly  from  Wethersfield.  The  pio- 
neers of  that  settlement  had  come  from  Massachusetts  without  the 
permission  of  the  General  Court,  and  in  opposition  to  its  decision. 
They  were  a  high-spirited  and  excitable  people,  and  apparently  were 
somewhat  adventurous  as  well  as  wilful.  They  were  not  by  any  means 
intimidated  when  the  Indians  murdered  some  of  their  number  and  carried 
off  two  children  into  captivity,  but  were  eager  to  fight  the  Pequots  and 
to  exterminate  them.  Their  spirit  of  independence  led  them  into  contro- 
versies among  themselves,  and  sometimes  they  carried  discord  into  the 
new  settlements  which  they  joined  by  renewing  their  controversies  there. 

The  first  year  there  was  no  civil  government  organized  by  these 
various  settlements,  but  the  settlers  entered  into  a  covenant  to  be  gov- 
erned "by  the  rules  which  the  Scripture  held  forth  to  them."  This 
seemed  sufficient  while  they  were  few  and  all  of  one  mind,  and  interpreted 
the  Scriptures  literally.  In  1639,  however,  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  free- 
men of  New  Haven  to  organize  some  sort  of  civil  government,  and,  as  they 
had  no  town-house  nor  meeting-house,  it  was  held  in  "  Mr.  Newman's 
barn."  A  simple  constitution  was  adopted,  which  provided  that  only 


THE  MOSAIC  CODE. 


327 


church-members  should  be  free  burgesses  or  voters;  and  as  no  church 
then  existed  by  uniting  with  which  men  might  become  free  burgesses, 
a  church  was  organized  with  "seven  pillars,"  as  a  foundation  for  the 
civil  government.  The  seven  pillars  of  the  church,  who  regulated  its 
affairs  and  the  admission  of  church-members,  subsequently  convened 

I 

the  "free  burgesses,"  and  they  chose  Mr.  Eaton  governor,  with  seven 
assistants,  or  magistrates.  The  colonists,  at  that  time,  did  not  require 
much  law,  and  experience  had  not  taught  them  "what  they  did  need; 
but  they  meant  to  be  a  religious  community,  and,  believing  that  the 
Bible  was  the  only  safe  guide,  they  adopted  the  laws  of  Moses  as  their 
only  code,  and  the  governor  and  magistrates  were  expected  to  administer 
them.  For  some  years  the  Mosaic  law  was  duly  observed,  and  its  pen- 
alties enforced,  when  necessary.  But  when  new  towns  were  founded, 
and  population  increased,  and  interests  multiplied,  it  was  found  that 
Moses  had  not  prescribed  rules  exactly  adapted  to  their  condition  or 
state  of  society,  and  the  ancient  code  was  gradually  modified.  Minister 
Davenport  shaped  the  laws,  however,  and  they  were  still  based  on  the 
Bible,  but  in  some  respects  the  Mosaic  code  was  considerably  softened.* 

The  settlers  at  Guilford,  Milford,  and  other  places  about  New  Haven, 
adopted  the  same  method  of  regulating  church  and  civil  affairs,  and  for 
several  years  maintained  separate  organizations.  They  afterwards  found 
it  for  their  advantage  to  unite  under  one  government,  and  attached  them- 
selves to  that  of  New  Haven. 

Neither  the  colony  of  Connecticut  nor  that  of  New  Haven  had  any 
charter  or  grant  from  the  king,  directly  or  indirectly.  They  had  pur- 
chased their  lands  of  the  Indians,  and  set  up  their  governments  by  the 
will  of  the  people.  But  there  was  another  settlement  —  that  at  Say- 
brook —  which,  according  to  English  ideas,  had  a  superior  right  to  exist, 
and  to  organize  a  government.  The  fort  at  Saybrook  had  been  built, 
and  the  territory  adjacent  to  the  Connecticut  claimed,  under  the  patent 
granted  to  Lords  Say  and  Brook.  Those  noblemen  had  contemplated 
coming  to  America  themselves,  but  finally  abandoned  the  purpose. 
George  Fenwick  came  over  as  their  agent,  and  established  an  indepen- 
dent government  at. Saybrook,  though  there  was  little  besides  the  fort 

*  The  '-'Blue  Laws"  of  Connecticut,  for  which  the  Puritans  have  been  so  much  ridiculed, 
never  had  any  existence  except  in  imagination. 


328  COL  ONT  OF  SA  TBR  O  OK. 

over  which  to  exercise  jurisdiction.  By  virtue  of  his  employers'  patent 
he  laid  claim  to  some  of  the  settlements  on  the  river,  but  his  pretensions 
were  not  kindly  received  nor  persistently  maintained;  and  when  the 
grantees  abandoned  the  purpose  of  coming  to  America  (in  1644),  he 
conveyed  the  grant  to  Connecticut.* 

Fenwick's  colony  gave  place  to  settlers  from  other  places,  and  when 
he  returned  to  England  he  left  nothing  more  memorable  than  a  mon- 
ument to  his  wife,  the  Lady  Anne  Botclcr,  who  died  at  Saybrook.  This 
moss-grown  monument,  of  rough  and  singular  form,  is  still  in  existence. 
Fenwick,  after  his  return  to  England,  was  a  prominent  man  among  the 
Puritans,  and  was  one  of  the  "  regicide  judges." 

*  Not  only  did  Lord  Say  and  Seal  and  Lord  Brooke  propose  coming  to  New  England,  but  it  is 
asserted  by  some  authorities  that,  while  Charles  I.  was  indulging  his  despotic  temper,  and  before  his 
struggle  with  parliament  commenced,  Oliver  Cromwell,  John  Hampclen,  and  other  distinguished  cham- 
pions of  popular  rights,  also  contemplated  emigrating,  and  that  they  were  only  prevented  from  em- 
barking by  an  express  order  of  the  king.  This  assertion  is  not  well  supported  by  evidence,  but  to 
the  dreamer  of  possibilities  it  suggests  a  wide  field  for  conjecture  as  to  the  effect  of  such  an  emi- 
gration on  New  England  ;  how  different  would  have  been  the  career  of  those  men  if  circumscribed 
by  the  narrow  limits  of  those  scattered  settlements  ;  how  changed  would  be  the  pages  of  English 
history. 


XXXVIII. 

UNITED   COLONIES   OF   NEW   ENGLAND. 


jHE  Pcquot  war  first  suggested  the  confederation  of  the  New 
England  colonies.  Such  a  union  was  proposed  and  dis- 
cussed immediately  after  the  war  as  a  measure  of  mutual 
protection,  but  it  was  not  carried  into  effect  till  several 
years  afterwards.  Then  the  fears,  not  only  of  Indian  hos- 
tilities, but  of  the  encroachments  of  the  French  on  the  one 
side,  and  especially  of  the  Dutch  on  the  other,  led  to  a  more 
urgent  renewal  of  the  scheme.  The  civil  war  in  England, 
which  had  already  broken  out  between  the  king  and  parliament,  was  an 
additional  motive  for  a  union  at  this  time.  Commissioners  from  the  four 
colonies  of  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  and  Plymouth  went  to 
Boston  and  met  a  like  representation  of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  confederation.  The  colonies  at  Providence  and 
Rhode  Island  were  not  invited  to  join,  the  others  not  being  willing  to 
have  any  dealings  with  such  dangerous  heretics. 

With  due  deliberation,  and  a  careful  reservation  of  the  rights  of  the 
several  colonies,  a  union  was  formed,  the  prototype  of  that  later  union 
of  all  the  colonies  by  which  their  independence  was  achieved,  and  that 
still  later  and  more  perfect  union  of  the  states  under  which  a  powerful 
nation  has  grown  up  to  take  a  foremost  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
world.  The  affairs  of  the  confederacy  were  intrusted  to  commissioners, 
consisting  of  two  from  each  colony,  who  were  to  assemble  annually,  or 
oftener  if  exigencies  required,  and  might  deliberate  on  all  things  which 
were  "  the  proper  concomitants  or  consequents  of  a  confederation."  The 
affairs  of  peace  and  war,  especially  as  relating  to  the  Indians,  were  to 
NO.  ix.  42  329 


330  UNITED  COLONIES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

be  conducted  by  these  commissioners;  they  were  authorized  in  certain 
cases  to  make  internal  improvements  for  the  common  benefit  at  the 
common  charge;  and  they  were  to  see  that  each  of  the  confederates  ren- 
dered prompt  justice  to  the  others.  While  such  were  their  powers  and 
duties,  they  had  no  executive  power  to  enforce  their  decrees,  and  it 
remained  for  the  colonies  to  carry  their  votes  into  effect.  Their  decision, 
however,  made  it  incumbent  on  each  of  the  confederates  to  act. 

The  articles  of  confederation  provided  for  the  admission  of  new 
members  by  consent  of  the  rest;  but  there  were  no  colonies  which 
the  confederates  were  willing  to  admit.  The  settlers  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Maine  had  no  independent  civil  government,  and  in  religion 
were  by  no  means  agreeable  to  the  Puritans.  Rhode  Island  and  the 
Providence  Plantations  desired  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  union, 
but  Massachusetts  could  not  yet  tolerate  the  heresies  of  Roger  Williams, 
and  Plymouth  claimed  that  Rhode  Island  was  a  rebel  against  her  juris- 
diction. 

Each  of  the  colonies  had  two  commissioners,  the  smaller  having  the 
same  representation  as  the  larger.  When  the  commissioners  assembled, 
those  from  Massachusetts  claimed  precedence  and  the  right  to  preside, 
as  representing  much  the  largest  population  and  most  important  inter- 
ests. The  other  commissioners,  however,  were  not  disposed  to  yield 
the  rights  of  their  colonies,  and  would  not  admit  the  claim;  but  in  view 
of  the  larger  population  of  that  colony  they  consented  that  its  commis- 
sioners should  have  precedence  in  some  respects,  and  should  sign  all 
papers  first. 

The  colonists,  from  the  first,  had  been  left  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, without  any  interference  or  aid  from  the  mother  country.  When, 
at  last,  the  attention  of  the  government  was  turned  towards  the  colo- 
nies, and  measures  were  taken  to  assert  the  royal  authority  over  them, 
the  troubles  at  home  prevented  a  consummation  of  the  purpose,  and 
they  were  still  left  to  themselves.  The  confederation  was  therefore  a 
wise  measure  for  their  mutual  protection  and  the  promotion  of  their 
common  interests;  it  proved  of  even  greater  benefit  than  was  antici- 
pated, and  continued  for  fifty  years. 


XXXIX. 

UNCAS   AND    MIANTONOMOH. 


NE  of  the  first  subjects  of  importance  to  come  before  the 
commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  was  an  alleged 
hostile  movement  of  the  Narragansett  Indians.  After  the 
destruction  of  the  Pequots  this  tribe  was  the  most  powerful 
in  New  England.  Next  in  importance  to  the  Narragan- 
setts  was  the  tribe  of  Mohegans,  occupying  the  territory 
between  the  Narragansetts  and  the  Connecticut  River. 
Uncas,  the  sachem  of  the  Mohegans,  had  early  estab- 
lished friendly  relations  with  the  settlers  on  the  Connecticut  River,  seek- 
ing their  alliance  as  a  protection  against  the  Pequots.  He  had  more 
of  the  qualities  of  the  statesman  than  most  of  the  native  chieftains,  and 
was  quite  as  shrewd  as  he  was  brave.  While  always  faithful  to  his 
white  allies,  he  was  jealous  and  treacherous  towards  rival  Indians.  The 
Mohegans  and  Narragansetts  were  old  enemies,  and,  when  the  fiercer 
and  more  powerful  Pequots  were  out  of  the  way,  they  were  disposed 
to  try  their  strength  against  each  other. 

The  Narragansetts  were  on  very  friendly  terms  with  Roger  Williams 
and  his  people,  and  Williams  had  great  influence  with  their  sachems, 
Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh,  as  was  shown  when  he  induced  them  not 
to  join  the  Pequots  in  their  hostilities  against  the  Connecti*cut  settlers. 
The  Massachusetts  rulers,  however,  regarded  the  Narragansetts  with 
distrust,  partly  because  they  had  shown  so  great  friendship  towards 
Williams  and  others  who  had  been  banished  for  heresy,  and  partly 
because  they  had,  at  an-  early  period,  sent  a  threatening  message  to 
Plymouth.  There  were  now,  too,  on  the  borders  of  Narragansett  Bay 

331 


332  UNCAS  AND  MIANTONOMOH. 

some  settlers  who  had  been  driven  from  Massachusetts  for  their  heresies 
and  obnoxious  conduct,  and  who  were  malevolent  enough  to  stir  up 
an  ill  feeling  in  the  Indians  towards  the  Massachusetts  colony.  Among 
these  were  Gorton,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made  on  a  preceding 
page.  Knowing  this,  the  Massachusetts  people  naturally  felt  some  un- 
easiness at  any  suspicious  movement  of  the  Narragansetts. 

Uncas  had  made  war  upon  Sequasson,  a  Connecticut  sachem,  a 
kinsman  of  Miantonomoh,  and  thus  provoked  the  anger  of  the  Narra- 
gansett  chief,  and  he  longed  for  revenge.  The  Mohegan  sachem  was 
no  less  fierce  against  Miantonomoh,  but  he  feared  the  more  powerful 
tribe  of  his  enemy,  should  he  make  war  alone.  With  the  alliance  of 
the  whites,  however,  who  had  so  quickly  destroyed  the  mighty  Pequots, 
he  could  conquer  the  Narragansetts,  and  thus  gratify  his  long-cherished 
purpose  of  revenge  and  his  ambition.  He  persuaded  the  colonists  of 
Hartford  and  New  Haven  that  Miantonomoh  was  planning  a  general 
massacre  of  the  English.  The  Connecticut  colonies  prepared  to  go  to 
war,  and  solicited  the  aid  of  Massachusetts.  But  that  colony  was  far- 
ther away  from  the  hostile  Indians,  and  was  not  inclined  to  act  hastily. 
The  magistrates  determined  to  inquire  into  the  matter  before  taking  so 
critical  a  step  as  making  war  upon  this  formidable  tribe,  and  they  sum- 
moned Miantonomoh  to  Boston. 

The  Narragansett  sachem  was  not  a  crafty  and  intriguing  character, 
but  a  haughty,  impetuous,  and  outspoken  savage,  and  it  speaks  well  for 
his  innocence  of  any  hostile  purpose  that  he  answered  the  summons 
of  the  Massachusetts  magistrates.  He  indignantly  denied  the  alleged 
conspiracy,  and,  declaring  that  it  was  a  calumny  of  Uncas,  demanded 
to  meet  the  accuser  face  to  face.  Finding  no  evidence  to  support  the 
charge,  the  magistrates  were  forced  to  take  his  word,  and  he  was  dis- 
missed. But  he  had  been  treated  as  a  culprit,  and  not  with  the  consid- 
eration which  he  felt  was  due  to  a  powerful  sachem.  He  had  not  been 
permitted  to  sit  at  the  magistrates'  table,  and  was  otherwise,  as  he  con- 
ceived, treated  with  indignity.  He  therefore  returned  to  his  tribe  in  no 
very  happy  mood,  and,  while  he  had  given  his  hand  to  Governor  Win- 
throp  in  token  of  peace,  he  doubtless  considered  that  he  was  absolved 
from  all  obligation  not  to  make  war  upon  his' malignant  accuser,  Uncas. 
When  the  captive  Pequots,  and  the  booty  taken  with  them,  were  divided, 
a  promise  was  exacted  from  the  Mohegans  and  Narragansetts  to  maintain 


MIANTONOMOH  ON  THE   WAR-PATH. 


333 


peace  with  each  other,  as  well  as  towards  the  whites.  Miantonomoh 
was  an  ignorant  savage,  but  he  was  not  far  wrong  if  he  construed  the 
accusation  of  Uncas  as  a  design  to  precipitate  war,  and  in  reality  the  first 
hostile  act. 

The  Narragansett  chief  had  hardly  left  Boston  when  letters  were 
again  received  from  Connecticut  urging  immediate  measures  to  defeat 
the  plot.  But  the  Massachusetts  magistrates  were  not  satisfied  that  the 
alleged  plot  existed,  or  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  any  preparations 
for  war.  The  Connecticut  colonies  were  not  prepared  to  commence 
hostilities  without  the  aid  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  winter  passed  with- 
out any  warlike  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  The  next  spring, 
Miantonomoh  was  again  summoned  to  Boston  to  answer  a  complaint 
made  by  two  petty  sachems,  who  claimed  to  be  independent,  that  he 
had  conveyed  their  lands  to  Gorton  and  his  associates.  "  Being  de- 
manded, in  open  court,  before  divers  of  his  own  men  and  other  Indians, 
whether  he  had  any  interest  in  the  said  two  sachems  .as  his  subjects, 
he  could  prove  none."  He  could  prove  none  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
magistrates,  but  in  his  own  mind  his  claim  to  the  allegiance  of  these 
rebellious  sachems  was  perfect,  and  his  temper  was  by  no  means  mol- 
lified by  the  action  of  the  magistrates. 

Miantonomoh  returned  to  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay  with  the 
desire  for  revenge  burning  in  his  heart.  He  doubtless  believed  that 
the  unfriendliness  of  the  Massachusetts  people  was  inspired  by  his  old 
enemy,  Uncas,  and,  disregarding  all  former  pledges  of  peace,  he  re- 
solved on  war  with  the  Mohegans.  It  is  said  that  he  sent  a  message 
to  Governor  Winthrop,  announcing  his  purpose,  but  there  was  then  no 
time  to  prevent  or  dissuade  him  from  putting  it  in  execution.  Within 
a  month  from  the  time  he  left  Boston  he  was  on  the  war-path,  with 
five  hundred  followers,  and  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Mohegans. 

Uncas  led  out  all  the  warriors  he  could  muster,  who  numbered,  how- 
ever, not  more  than  half  as  many  as  the  Narragansetts.  But  the  crafty 
sachem  of  the  Mohegans  was  more  than  a  match  for  his  enemy.  As 
the  two  forces  drew  near  each  other,  and  before  they  commenced  fight- 
ing, Uncas  advanced  in  front  of  his  warriors,  and  demanded  an  inter- 
view with  Miantonomoh.  The  Narragansett  chief  went  out  to  meet 
him,  while  his  followers  disposed  themselves  to  observe  this  unusual 
proceeding.  The  rival  chiefs,  always  and  with  reason  suspicious  of 


334  UNCAS  AND  MIANTONOMOH. 

enemies,  did  not  approach  each  other  very  closely,  and  Uncas  addressed 
Miantonomoh  in  a  loud  voice,  to  which  the  Narragansetts  listened  with 
close  attention.  He  proposed  that  the  warriors  of  the  two  tribes  should 
not  fall  to  killing  each  other,  but  that  they  two  should  fight  it  out  in  single 
combat.  Miantonomoh,  knowing  his  superiority  of  numbers,  refused 
the  challenge.  Uncas  then  threw  himself  flat  upon  the  ground,  which 
was  a  preconcerted  signal  to  his  followers.  With  a  fierce  yell,  they 
immediately  let  fly  a  flight  of  arrows  at  the  Narragansetts,  who  were 
wholly  unprepared  for  such  a  termination  of  the  interview  between  the 
sachems.  With  that  lack  of  real  courage  which  characterized  the  un- 
disciplined savages,  they  fled  in  dismay.  The  Mohegans,  elated  by  their 
sudden  success,  fiercely  pursued.  Miantonomoh  retreated  with  his  tribe; 
but  there  were  traitors  among  his  followers,  who,  in  order  to  obtain 
favor  with  Uncas,  prevented  his  escape,  and  delivered  him  into  the  hands 
of  his  enemy.  Their  treachery,  however,  was  rewarded  by  a  death- 
blow from  the.Mohegan  chief. 

Uncas,  for  some  reason,  forbore  to  dispose  of  his  prisoner  by  torture 
and  death,  after  the  custom  of  the  Indians,  and  taking  him  to  Hartford, 
delivered  him,  at  his  own  request,  into  the  custody  of  the  colonists. 
The  wily  savage  doubtless  thought  he  should  secure  still  more  firmly 
the  friendship  of  the  whites  by  delivering  to  them  the  enemy  they  so 
much  feared.  What  disposition  should  be  made  of  the  prisoner  was  a 
troublesome  question  with  the  colonists.  They  were  afraid  to  release 
him,  for  fear  of  giving  offence  to  Uncas,  and  they  had  no  just  cause  for 
punishing  him  with  death.  The  matter  was  therefore  referred  to  the 
commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  who  were  then  holding  their 
first  session  at  Boston. 

The  views  of  the  Connecticut  colonists  were  probably  urged  with 
some  force,  and  whatever  evidence  they  had  of  a  purpose  among  the 
Indians  to  massacre  the  whites  was  presented  with  such  effect  as  to 
satisfy  even  the  Massachusetts  men,  who  had  hitherto  been  inclined  to 
doubt.  The  commissioners  therefore  found  that  it  was  "  clearly  discov- 
ered that  there  was  a  general  conspiracy  among  the  Indians  to  cut  off  all 
the  English,  and  that  Miantonomoh  was  the  head  and  contriver  of  it." 
They  further  found  it  "  sufficiently  evidenced  that  Miantonomoh  and  his 
confederates  had  in  sundry  ways  manifested  their  enmity  against  the  life 
of  Uncas."  Having  established  these  premises  to  their  satisfaction,  they 


DEATH  OF  MIANTONOMOH. 


335 


were  not  so  clear  as  to  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  offender,  and 
they  asked  the  advice  of  five  of  "  the  most  judicious  "  of  the  fifty  min- 
isters then  assembled  at  Boston.  The  ministers  had  less  difficulty  than 
the  laymen:  they  found  in  the  Bible  precedents  for  their  predetermina- 
tion. Miantonomoh  must  die.  By  the  laws  of  Indian  warfare,  the  cap- 
tive's life  was  forfeit  to  his  captor,  and  the  Bible  sanctioned  the  putting 
to  death  of  enemies.  With  the  advice  of  the  ministers,  therefore,  the 
commissioners  came  to  the  conclusion  "  that  Uncas  cannot  be  safe  while 
Miantonomoh  lives,  but  either  by  secret  treachery  or  open  force  his  life 
will  still  be  in  danger.  Wherefore  they  think  he  may  justly  put  such  a 
false  and  bloodthirsty  enemy  to  death."  It  was  further  decided,  however, 
that  the  condemned  chief  should  not  be  tortured  or  otherwise  outraged 
by  his  savage  executioner. 

The  decision  of  the  commissioners  was  satisfactory  to  the  people  of 
Connecticut.  Miantonomoh  was  delivered  to  his  triumphant  enemy,  with 
instructions  to  take  him  beyond  the  limits  of  the  settlement  and  put  him 
to  death.  At  the  same  time,  a  number  of  soldiers  were  sent  with  him 
to  see  that  the  condemned  chief  was  not  tortured,  and  that  no  indignity 
should  be  inflicted  on  his  lifeless  body.  No  word  of  his  doom  was 
whispered  to  Miantonomoh,  and  he  went  forth  with  a  firm  and  elastic 
step,  as  if  he  anticipated  his  liberty  and  a  return  to  his  kindred.  If  such 
were  his  anticipations  they  were  speedily  ended,  for  a  brother  of  Uncas, 
walking  behind  him,  suddenly  buried  his  hatchet  in  the  proud  sachem's 
brain.  Miantonomoh  was  dead;  the  savage's  thirst  for  vengeance  was 
appeased,  and  the  fears  of  the  whites  were  allayed. 

Though  some  white  soldiers  were  present  to  see  that  no  indignity 
should  be  offered  to  the  body  of  the  murdered  sachem,  Uncas  hastened  to 
cut  a  piece  of  flesh  from  his  shoulder  and  eat  it  with  savage  delight,  say- 
ing it  was  the  sweetest  morsel  he  ever  tasted,  and  made  his  heart  strong. 

Such  was  the  treacherous,  cruel,  and  unnecessary  taking  off  of  the 
Narragansett  sachem,  who  had  shown  more  of  friendship  than  of  enmity 
to  the  English,  and  it  was  counselled  and  approved  by  the  ministers 
whose  advice  was  sought!  At  this  distance  of  time,  it  appears  as  if 
the  friendship  of  the  Narragansett  sachems  towards  Williams  and  the 
other  settlers  in  Rhode  Island,  who  were  so  obnoxious  to  the  Puritans 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  had  created  a  prejudice  in  the  minds 
of  the  latter  which  made  them  ready  to  believe  any  evil  of  those  chiefs, 


336  UN  CAS  AND  MIANTONOMOH. 

and  anxious  to  inflict  on  them  the  punishment  which  some  would  will- 
ingly have  visited  on  the  white  heretics.  The  condemnation  of  Mian- 
tonomoh,  and  giving  him  into  the  hands  of  his  bloodthirsty  enemy  to 
be  murdered,  is  a  blot  on  the  character  of  the  magistrates  and  ministers 
which  their  fears  of  an  Indian  war  may  palliate,  but  cannot  excuse. 

Miantonomoh  was  buried  where  he  fell,  and  the  place  received  the 
name  of  "  Sachem's  Plain."  The  members  of  his  tribe  each  laid  a  stone 
upon  his  grave  whenever  they  passed  that  way,  and  it  is  said  that  some 
of  them  made  annual  pilgrimages  to  the  spot,  to  pay  this  simple  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  their  lamented  sachem. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  killing  of  Miantonomoh  did  not  make 
the  Narragansetts  more  peaceful.  Pessacus,  Miantonomoh's  brother  and 
successor,  threatened  to  revenge  on  Uncas  the  death  of  the  unfortunate 
sachem.  The  mischievous  border  settlers  on  Narragansett  Bay  did  all 
they  could  to  stir  up  discontent  and  hostility  among  the  Indians  towards 
the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  The  wise  and  concil- 
iatory course  of  the  commissioners,  however,  prevented  any  actual  war- 
fare between  the  rival  tribes  of  Indians,  and  any  attack  upon  the  whites. 
But  the  hostile  spirit  of  the  savages,  though  quieted  for  a  time,  was  not 
quenched.  It  was  nursed  in  secret  by  the  memory  of  those  days  when 
the  colonies  protected  and  aided  their  enemy,  and  it  was  not  infrequently 
aroused  by  wrongs  and  outrages  committed  by  individual  settlers,  and 
the  stern  authority  which  the  colonies  asserted  over  them.  At  last,  when 
the  Indians  had  learned  some  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  had  ob- 
tained fire-arms  and  learned  how  to  use  them,  that  hostile  spirit  broke 
forth  in  "King  Philip's  war." 

Uncas  always  remained  a  faithful  friend  to  the  Connecticut  colonies, 
but  he  was  treacherous  towards  his  own  race.  Whenever  he  thought 
he  could  profit  by  it,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  stir  up  the  colonists  against 
the  neighboring  tribes,  and  the  Connecticut  people  were  only  too  ready 
to  believe  his  untrustworthy  representations.  More  politic  than  most 
Indians,  he  made  his  savage  propensities  subordinate  to  his  interest, 
and  he  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  his  interest  lay  in  a  firm  alli- 
ance with  the  more  powerful  whites.  The  Connecticut  settlers  were 
equally  faithful  to  their  ally,  and  bestowed  many  tokens  of  favor  on 
him  and  -his  descendants. 


XL. 


THE   CONNECTICUT    COLONISTS   AND   THE 
DUTCH   AND   INDIANS. 


\ 


HE  colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  welre  com- 
posed of  men  of  enterprise  and  spirit,  and  while  they  had 
come  to  New  England  avowedly  to  escape  persecution 
and  to  enjoy  their  manner  of  worship  undisturbed,  they 
manifested  no  little  zeal  in  promoting  their  temporal  in- 
terests and  the  extension  of  their  trade  and  their  territory. 
For  exemplary  Christians,  too,  they  were  a  good  deal  in- 
clined to  war.  They  had  destroyed  the  Pequots,  and, 
influenced  by  Uncas,  they  would  have  had  the  united  colonies  in  a  like 
manner  exterminate  the  Narragansetts  but  for  the  more  cautious  action 
of  Massachusetts.  Their  next  trouble  was  with  the  Dutch  of  New 
Netherlands.  They  tolerated  the  trading-fort  at  Good  Hope,  near  Hart- 
ford, though  not  with  a  very  good  grace;  but  they  did  not  tolerate  the 
efforts  of  the  New  Netherlands  people  to  establish  themselves  at  points 
west  of  New  Haven.  They  looked  upon  New  Amsterdam  itself  as  an 
unwarrantable  intrusion  upon  lands  which  belonged  to  England. 

The  people  of  the  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  colonies  soon  planted 
settlements  at  Greenwich  and  other  points  west  of  New  Haven,  and 
disputed  the  right  of  the  Dutch  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  or  to  establish 
trading-posts  there.  The  veracious  Diedrich  Knickerbocker  says  that 
the  Connecticut  people  planted  their  onions  nearer  and  nearer  each  year 
to  the  Hudson,  and  compelled  the  Dutch  to  retire  with  tears  in  their 
eyes.  An  equally  veracious  and  impartial  chronicler  of  Connecticut 
NO.  ix.  43  337 


338  THE   CONNECTICUT  COLONISTS. 

might  have  said  that  the  Dutch  crept  through  the  onion  beds  to  set 
their  beaver  traps  under  the  noses  of  the  English.  Such  was  substan- 
tially the  conflict  between  the  two  sets  of  pioneers  on  the  soil  of  West- 
ern Connecticut. 

Complaints  and  counter  complaints  were  frequent  between  the  set- 
tlers at  Hartford  and  the  Dutch  at  the  trading-post  of  "  Good  Hope," 
near  by,  and  there  were  frequent  collisions  between  them,  in  which  it 
would  seem  that  the  Dutch,  on  the  whole,  got  the  worst  of  it.  Among 
the  wrongs  complained  of  by  the  English  settlers  were  the  follow- 
ing:— 

An  Indian  woman,  who  was  a  captive,  and  servant  of  one  of  the 
settlers,  and  who  had  committed  some  offence,  and  was  liable  to  public 
punishment,  fled  to  the  Dutch  fort  and  was  there  entertained  and  pro- 
tected, and  the  commander  refused  to  surrender  her. 

Some  Dutch  horses  having  been  impounded  for  doing  damage  to 
the  corn  of  the  English,  were  forcibly  seized  by  the  Dutch,  who  as- 
saulted and  beat  an  Englishman  for  interfering. 

One  notorious  offender,  imprisoned  for  a  capital  offence,  was  aided 
to  escape  by  a  negro  belonging  to  the  Dutch,  who  was  not  called  to 
account  for  so  doing. 

The  Dutch  received  stolen  goods,  and  married  English  couples 
whose  marriage  was  refused  by  the  Connecticut  magistrates.  They  put 
cattle  in  the  English  cornfields,  opposed  the  erection  of  fences,  and  cut 
them  down,  and  committed  divers  other  acts  to  prevent  the  English 
from  planting,  and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Dutch  complained  of  a  still  longer  catalogue 
of  injuries  which  they  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  English  settlers,  and 
among  them  were  the  following:  — 

The  English  prevented  the  Dutch  from  planting  lands  which  the 
latter  had  purchased,  and  then  proceeded  to  plant  them  themselves. 

They  beat  the  Dutch  servants  who  were  at  work  for  their  masters, 
and  "struck  Ever  Duckings  a  hole  in  his  head  with  a  stick,  so  that  the 
blood  ran  down  very  strongly  down  on  his  body." 

The  constable  of  Hartford,  with  ten  armed  men,  came  upon  the  lands 
of  the  Dutch  when  they  were  ploughing,  and  "  smote  the  horses  with 
sticks,"  so  that  they  broke  the  gear  and  ran  away. 


ENGLISH     AND    DUTCH     (QUARRELS    IN     CONNECTICUT. 


CONTENTIONS  BETWEEN  ENGLISH  AND   DUTCH.        339 

The  English  continued  to  hinder  them  in  the  possession  of  their  land, 
"  with  blows  and  strokes  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood." 

They  took  a  Dutch  horse,  and  a  cow  and  calf,  and  impounded  them 
for  trespassing  when  they  had  not  trespassed. 

An  English  minister  took  hay  which  the  Dutch  had  cut  and  made 
on  their  own  land,  and  appropriated  it  to  his  own  use. 

These  complaints  show  a  very  unpleasant  condition  of  affairs,  and 
anything  but  a  peaceful  state  in  the  little  colony  of  Hartford.  There 
was  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  the  representatives  of  the  two 
nations,  and,  as  the  English  were  the  most  numerous,  and  withal  the 
most  aggressive,  the  Dutch,  in  this  border  warfare,  undoubtedly  got  the 
worst  of  it.  We  can  imagine  with  what  sober  earnestness  the  English 
maintained  their  "rights,"  and  how  vigorously  they  fell  upon  the  offend- 
ing Dutchmen  with  "  sticks  and  staves,"  and  what  a  volley  of  Dutch 
oaths  was  discharged  from  the  fort  of  Good  Hope. 

While  the  English  settlers  and  the  Dutch  traders  were  disputing,  the 
relations  between  the  two  mother  countries  became  unfriendly,  and  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company,  by  whom  the  settlement  of  New  Amster- 
dam was  made,  instructed  their  governor,  Stuyvesant,  to  "  live  with  his 
neighbors  on  as  good  terms  as  possible."  Under  these  instructions,  the 
governor  attempted  to  negotiate  with  the  English  colonies  for  the  set- 
tlement of  their  rival  claims.  But  he  did  not  meet  with  much  success. 
The  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  who  had  jurisdiction  in  such 
matters,  ignored  the  claims  of  the  Dutch,  and  forbade  "  all  persons  but 
such  as  were  inhabitants  within  the  English  jurisdictions,  and  subject  to 
their  laws  and  government,"  to  trade  with  the  Indians  within  those  juris- 
dictions. These  jurisdictions  were  not  definitely  settled,  but  the  colonies 
and  the  commissioners  were  disposed  to  consider  them  as  extending 
over  a  great  part,  at  least,  of  the  territory  where  the  Dutch  were  then 
trading. 

Anxious  to  bring  about  more  amicable  relations  with  the  English 
colonies,  which  he  began  to  fear,  Stuyvesant  resolved  to  meet  the  com- 
missioners in  person,  and  he  accordingly  went  to  Hartford  while  they 
were  in  session  there.  He  was  not  received  with  much  cordiality  by 
the  people  and  magistrates  of  that  colony,  nor  with  much  respect  for 
the  dignity  which  he  thought  belonged  to  his  office.  After  being  there 


34°  THE  CONNECTICUT  COLONISTS. 

two  days  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  commissioners,  and  inadvertently, 
or  thinking  perhaps  that  where  he  was  his  jurisdiction  extended,  espe- 
cially where  the  Dutch  claimed  rights,  he  dated  his  letter  at  New  Neth- 
erlands. The  commissioners,  suspicious  that  he  was  setting  a  trap  to 
catch  from  them  some  admission  of  the  Dutch  claim  of  jurisdiction, 
refused  to  treat  with  him  till  he  disclaimed  any  such  pretension.  The 
Dutch  governor  was  not  inclined  to  have  his  long  journey  prove  fruitless 
on  account  of  mere  words,  and  dated  his  subsequent  letters  at  Con- 
necticut, and  the  commissioners  then  agreed  to  confer  with  him. 

Stuyvesant  commenced  by  complaining  of  the  "  unjust  usurpation 
and  possessing  the  land  lying  upon  the  river  commonly  called  Con- 
necticut or  the  Fresh  River,"  and  of  the  injuries  above  named  which 
had  been  inflicted  on  his  countrymen,  and  he  proposed  an  arrangement 
for  the  restoration  of  fugitives,  and  a  repeal  of  the  law  forbidding  Dutch- 
men to  trade  with  Indians  within  the  colonies.  The  colonial  com- 
missioners, however,  maintained  their  title  to  the  lands  as  derived  from 
"  patent,  purchase,  and  possession,"  and  ignored  all  other  matters  till  the 
question  of  territory  should  be  settled.  The  Dutch  governor,  finding  the 
commissioners  firm,  proposed  to  submit  the  matter  in  dispute  to  arbi- 
tration, and  after  some  discussion  the  proposition  was  accepted.  Simon 
Bradstreet  of  Massachusetts  and  Thomas  Prince  of  Plymouth  were 
appointed  arbitrators  on  the  part  of  the  colonies,  and  Thomas  Millctt 
and  George  Baxter,  English  residents  at  New  Amsterdam,  on  the  part 
of  the  Dutch.  Stuyvesant  was  liberal,  and  by  appointing  two  English- 
men as  arbitrators  on  his  part  showed  that  he  was  prepared  to  make 
concessions.  The  arbitrators  were  not  long  in  arriving  at  a  settlement, 
which,  as  might  be  expected,  was  altogether  favorable  to  the  English 
claims.  The  boundary  line  was  to  begin  on  the  west  side  of  Green- 
wich Bay,  and  thence  to  run  northerly,  but  not  to  come  within  ten 
miles  of  the  Hudson;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  Dutch  should  not 
build  any  house  or  habitation  within  six  miles  of  the  said  line.  The 
planters  at  Greenwich,  however,  were  to  remain  for  the  present  under 
the  government  of  the  Dutch,  and  the  Dutch  were  to  hold  and  enjoy  all 
the  lands  in  Hartford  that  they  were  actually  possessed  of,  and  all  the  re- 
mainder of  the  lands  on  the  Connecticut  River  were  to  belong  to  the  Eng- 
lish. The  award  also  assigned  to  the  English  the  greater  part  of  Long 
Island. 


A   SUSPECTED  DUTCH  PLOT. 

When  the  result  of  the  arbitration  became  known  at  New  Amster- 
dam the  wrath  of  the  Dutch  was  great,  and  loud  complaints  were  made 
against  Stuyvesant.  But  the  governor  was  wiser  than  the  complainants. 
lie  had  seen  how  the  English  settlers  at  Hartford  outnumbered  the 
Dutch,  and  he  had  learned  something  of  the  strength  of  the  United 
Colonies,  while  he  could  have  no  doubt  as  to  their  temper.  He  had 
adopted  a  discreet  course,  and  postponed  the  da}'  when  the  English 
should  overthrow  Dutch  rule  even  in  New  Amsterdam  itself. 

But  the  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  colonies  were  not  altogether 
satisfied  with  the  award  so  favorable  to  them.  The  people  did  not  like 
the  Dutch,  and  they  took  no  pains  to  conceal  their  dislike,  but  on  the 
contrary  took  pleasure  in  manifesting  it,  especially  when  at  last  war 
broke  out  between  the  mother  countries.  They  made  preparations  for 
"  defence  "  against  the  Dutch,  but  really  wished  to  commence  an  offen- 
sive war  against  New  Amsterdam. 

At  this  stage  of  affairs  a  report  got  abroad  that  the  Dutch  were 
plotting  with  the  Mohawks  and  Nyantics  to  make  war  upon  the  Eng- 
lish. Whether  the  report  originated  with  the  crafty  Uncas  or  not,  he 
took  pains  to  confirm  it  by  some  plausible  representations  which  were 
readily  believed  by  the  government  and  people  of  the  Connecticut  col- 
onies. Ninigret,  sachem  of  the  Nyantics,  had  been  to  New  Amsterdam, 
and  this  was  believed  to  be  certain  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the 
plot.  The  commissioners  were  convened  to  take  measures  to  defeat  it. 
The  sachems  of  the  Narragansetts  and  Nyantics  were  called  upon  to 
give  their  testimony  concerning  the  plot;  but  they  denied  all  knowl- 
edge of  it,  and  Ninigret  declared  that  his  visit  to  New  Amsterdam 
was  made  for  the  purpose  of  being  "  cured  and  healed "  of  some 
disease. 

The  commissioners,  however,  were  not  convinced,  but  believed  that 
a  hostile  feeling  towards  the  English  had  been  aroused  among  the  In- 
dians "  for  divers  hundreds  of  miles'  circuit,"  and  that  the  Dutch  were 
responsible  for  it.  The  government  and  elders  of  Massachusetts,  being 
called  into  council,  were  not  so  ready  to  put  faith  in  the  representations 
of  Uncas,  and  "  did  not  understand  they  were  called  to  make  a  present 
war  with  the  Dutch."  New  Haven  and  Hartford  were  indignant,  and 
dissensions  arose  between  the  colonies  which  threatened  to  end  the 


342  THE  CONNECTICUT  COLONISTS. 

confederacy.  The  Connecticut  colonies  proposed  to  go  to  war  alone 
if  they  could  obtain  volunteers  and  vessels  in  Massachusetts;  but  Mas- 
sachusetts could  not  assent  to  that.  The  firmness  of  this  colony  pre- 
vented the  war,  and  the  others  were  compelled  at  last  to  acquiesce  in 
her  decision  or  recede  from  a  confederation  which  was  of  more  impor- 
tance to  them  than  to  her. 

Not  succeeding  in  inaugurating  a  war  against  the  Dutch,  the  Con- 
necticut colonies  directed  their  animosity  against  the  Nyantics.  An 
assault  was  reported  to  have  been  committed  on  some  Long  Island  In- 
dians who  were  friendly  to  the  English,  and  the  commissioners,  who 
had  a  sharp  look-out  in  Indian  affairs,  summoned  the  Narragansett  and 
Nyantic  sachems  to  come  to  Boston  and  "  clear  themselves,  or  render 
a  reason  for  their  hostile  invasion."  Ninigret,  the  Nyantic  chief,  was 
haughty  and  independent.  He  did  not  treat  the  messengers  sent  to 
summon  him  with  much  courtesy,  and  told  them  "  his  heart  was  not 
willing  to  come  to  the  Bay."  The  commissioners  thereupon  voted  that 
they  "  conceived  themselves  called  by  God  to  make  a  present  war  against 
Ninigret,  the  Nyantic  sachem." 

The  Massachusetts  commissioners  did  not  assent  to  this  vote,  and 
the  calmer  judgment  of  the  Massachusetts  magistrates  again  opposed 
the  warlike  spirit  of  the  Connecticut  colonies.  This  action  rekindled 
the  flame  of  dissension  in  the  confederacy.  The  commissioners  of  the 
three  smaller  colonies,  Plymouth,  Hartford,  and  New  Haven,  united  in 
resentment  towards  their  cooler  and  more  peaceful  confederate.  Their 
voice  was  "still  for  war,"  and  they  passed  a  resolve  that  Massachusetts 
had  actually  broken  her  covenant.  A  long  controversy  followed  be- 
tween the  Massachusetts  colony  and  the  others.  In  the  mean  time 
peace  was  maintained  with  both  the  Dutch  and  the  Indians,  and  no 
further  evidence  appeared  that  there  was  ever  any  such  plot  as  the 
Connecticut  people  had  conjured  up  to  scare  themselves  with. 

Ninigret,  however,  apparently  taking  advantage  of  the  colonial  dis- 
sension, had  committed  some  depredations,  and  refused  to  pay  tribute 
on  account  of  some  Pequot  captives  who  had  been  assigned  to  him. 
He  was  summoned  to  answer  for  his  offences,  but  he  refused  to  come 
to  Hartford,  or  to  send  his  representatives,  or  to  give  any  satisfaction. 
Here  was  cause  for  warlike  preparation,  and  though  the  Massachusetts 


NE  W  HA  YEN  BENT  ON  WAR.  343 

authorities  regarded  his  action  as  indicating  ill  temper  rather  than  any 
hostile  design,  they  united  with  the  other  colonies  in  a  vote  to  send 
twenty  horsemen  and  forty  foot-soldiers  to  compel  his  better  behavior. 
Simon  Willard,  of  Massachusetts,  was  made  commander-in-chief  of  this 
army,  and  he  marched  the  quota  of  his  colony  to  the  western  shore  of 
Narragansett  Bay,  where  Ninigret  usually  resided.  That  sachem,  how- 
ever, did  not  await  his  coming,  but  retired  into  a  great  swamp,  some 
fifteen  miles  away,  and  Willard  deferred  a  pursuit  until  the  troops  from 
Connecticut  and  New  Haven  should  arrive.  When  those  troops  did 
arrive  an  advance  was  made  towards  Ninigret's  retreat,  and  two  cap- 
tains were  sent  to  confer  with  him.  They  found  the  sachem  apparently 
in  great  alarm,  but  for  all  his  fears  he  would  not  agree  to  the  de- 
mands which  had  been  made  upon  him.  He  promised  to  surrender 
the  Pequot  captives,  and  was  glad  to  be  rid  of  them,  but  he  would  not 
agree  to  pay  any  tribute.  Ninigret  was  in  a  place  where  cavalry  was 
of  no  use,  and  foot-soldiers  could  accomplish  little,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  season  was  unsuitable  for  further  operations.  So  the  "  army " 
marched  away  again,  with  the  sachem's  promise  to  surrender  the  Pe- 
quots  rather  than  pay  for  them,  as  the  grand  result  of  the  campaign. 
After  an  absence  of  fifteen  days  Willard  was  back  in  Boston.  The 
belligerent  Connecticut  colonists  were  sorely  indignant,  but  the  Massa- 
chusetts government  believed  that  intimidation  was  better  than  battle, 
and  thanked  the  troops  for  their  cheerful  and  ready  service. 

The  New  Haven  colony  was  resolved  on  war  with  the  Dutch  of 
New  Netherlands.  The  thrifty  merchants  were  not  slow  to  see  the 
advantages  for  trade  which  Manhadoes,  or  Manhattan,  possessed,  and 
they  did  not  consider  that  the  tenth  commandment  applied  to  this  case. 
As  Englishmen,  they  believed  that  all  the  country  —  at  least  from  the 
French  settlements  in  Acadie  to  the  Spanish  in  Florida  —  belonged  to 
England.  The  Dutch  were  simply  interlopers  and  trespassers,  who 
ought  to  be  driven  out,  that  the  rightful  owners  might  come  in;  they 
were,  moreover,  a  set  of  heretics,  whose  only  god  was  trade,  and  they 
ought  to  give  place  to  the  saints.  Failing,  through  the  opposition  of 
Massachusetts,  to  secure  active  hostilities  by  the  United  Colonies  against 
New  Netherlands,  the  New  Haven  people  determined  to  seek  aid  else- 
where. The  Connecticut  colony  had  but  little  less  aversion  to  the 


344 


THE  CONNECTICUT  COLONISTS. 


Dutch  than  its  sister  colony,  and  the  two  joined  in  soliciting  the  in- 
fluence of  leading  men  in  England  in  favor  of  an  expedition  against 
the  Dutch  settlements  in  America,  and  even  made  application  to  the 
Protector  himself.  After  a  time  their  efforts  were  crowned  with  suc- 
cess, and  the  belligerent  colonists  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  joyous 
excitement  by  the  intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  an  expedition  at  Boston 
intended  to  operate  against  New  Netherlands. 

This  expedition  was  to  co-operate  with  the  colonies  in  the  proposed 
attack,  and  the  question  of  furnishing  their  respective  quotas  was  speedily 
brought  before  the  colonial  governments.  New  Haven  at  once  sent 
messengers  to  Boston  to  congratulate  the  commander,  and  to  assure 
him  that  the  colony  would  "  afford  their  best  assistance,  both  in  men 
and  provisions."  The  messengers  were  further  instructed  to  declare 
that  if  Massachusetts  should  refuse  or  delay  to  join  the  expedition,  or 
even  if  all  the  other  colonies  declined,  the  people  of  New  Haven  alone 
"  would  improve  the  utmost  of  their  ability  to  manifest  their  due  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  England,  and  readiness  to  a  service  wherein 
all  New  England  —  at  least  the  western  colonies  —  were  so  much  con- 
cerned." Massachusetts  did  delay,  and  refused  to  raise  any  auxiliary 
force  for  the  expedition,  but  gave  consent  for  the  English  officers  to 
enroll  five  hundred  volunteers,  if  they  could  find  so  many.  New  Haven, 
however,  was  all  astir  with  preparations  for  the  war.  Frequent  trainings 
were  ordered;  an  embargo  was  laid  on  provisions;  shoemakers,  ar- 
morers, and  bakers  were  set  at.jyork;  relays  of  horses  were  provided 
for  the  conveyance  of  orders  or  the  reports  of  victory;  and  finally  the 
court  raised  a  force  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  men,  and  seized 
vessels  for  transports. 

The  Connecticut  colony  manifested  a  like  readiness  to  join  in  the 
expedition,  and  promptly  offered  to  furnish  its  proportion  of  a  force  of 
fifteen  hundred  men.  In  case  Massachusetts  refused  to  take  part  in  the 
enterprise,  and  it  should  be  determined  to  prosecute  it,  the  messengers 
of  Connecticut  were  authorized  to  pledge  the  colony  for  the  supply  of 
four  or  five  hundred  men.  Hartford,  however,  was  not  quite  so  busy  as 
New  Haven  with  the  preparations  for  war,  and  waited  to  learn  exactly 
what  was  expected  of  her  before  raising  her  forces  and  preparing  their 
rations.  The  latter  colony,  having  raised  its  little  army,  and  provided 


AN  UNWELCOME  PEACE. 


345 


supplies,  appointed  a  day  of  "  fasting  and  prayer  for  a  blessing  upon  the 
enterprise  abroad,  and  for  the  safety  of  the  plantations  at  home." 

But  the  belligerent  colonists  were  doomed  to  disappointment,  and 
anxious  wives  and  mothers  were  relieved  from  their  forebodings.  Before 
the  day  appointed  for  the  fast  arrived,  a  messenger  came  dashing  into 
town  bearing  a  proclamation  announcing  that  peace  had  been  concluded 
between  the  parent  countries.  Great  was  the  disgust  of  the  colonial 
magnates  when  they  thus  learned  that  all  their  patriotic  preparations 
were  for  nought,  and  that  their  animosity  towards  the  Dutch  could  not 
be  gratified.  The  officers  and  young  men,  who  had  anticipated  a  bril- 
liant campaign  and  a  large  share  of  glory,  were  indignant  that  the  news 
should  have  crossed  the  ocean  before  they  had  won  their  victory  over 
the  Dutch  trespassers.  But  the  hearts  of  the  women  were  filled  with 
joy,  in  the  assurance  that  their  husbands  and  sons  were  not  going  to 
seek  "  the  bubble  reputation  even  in  the  cannon's  mouth." 

When  the  rumor  of  peace  reached  New  Amsterdam,  the  Dutch  gov- 
ernor, who  had  been  greatly  alarmed  at  the  warlike  preparations  of  his 
neighbors,  sent  a  messenger  with  all  haste  to  New  Haven  to  inquire 
whether  it  was  true.  The  disappointed  governor  of  New  Haven  had  no 
choice  but  to  admit  the  fact,  and  despatched  a  copy  of  the  proclamation 
to  his  Dutch  excellency,  to  his  great  joy  and  relief. 

NO.  ix.  44 


XLI. 

ELIOT,   THE  APOSTLE   TO   THE   INDIANS. 

MAYHEW. 


OTWITHSTANDING  the  warlike  attitude  of  the  Con- 
necticut colonists  towards  certain  tribes  of  Indians,  the 
relations  of  the  New  England  settlers  with  the  natives 
about  them  were  not  altogether  hostile.  When  they  came 
to  America  they  were  very  solicitous  for  the  conversion 
of  the  savages,  but  they  soon  became  convinced  that  it 
would  be  no  easy  matter  to  make  Christians  out  of  the 
stupid  and  sensual  barbarians  with  whom  they  came  in 
contact.  At  first  they  were  so  engrossed  in  providing  for  their  own 
welfare,  that  they  could  make  no  systematic  effort  to  convert  the  In- 
dians, and  in  the  mean  time  they  learned  of  what  unpromising  mate- 
rials they  must  make  their  converts.  But  they  did  not  become  indifferent 
to  the  religious  condition  of  the  Indians  about  them,  and  used  such 
opportunities  as  offered  for  their  instruction. 

The  Plymouth  people  undertook  to  teach  such  of  the  natives  as 
visited  them,  and  were  highly  pleased  with  the  impression  they  made 
on  Squanto  and  Hobomok.  It  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  them  that 
Squanto,  when  about  to  die,  asked  Governor  Bradford  to  pray  that  he 
might  go  to  the  Englishman's  heaven.  The  Puritans  of  Massachusetts 
also  instructed  such  Indians  as  were  disposed  to  receive  instruction  in 
religious  matters,  and  some  of  the  younger  and  more  docile  natives,  who 
were  taken  into  English  families  as  servants,  showed  no  little  interest 
in  religious  services.  But  not  a  few  of  them,  from  their  propensities 

346 


THE   BIBLE  IN  THE   INDIAN  LANGUAGE. 


347 


for  mischief  and  deviltry,  were  regarded  as  "children  of  Satan."  The 
older  Indians  were  not  generally  disposed  to  forsake  their  okies,  or  to 
abandon  the  incantations  of  their  powows,  medicine-men,  or  priests,  for 
the  less  noisy  and  exciting  performance  of  a  minister's  sermon.  The 
colonists,  however,  met  with  sufficient  success  to  encourage  them  in  the 
belief  that  the  natives  had  some  capacity  for  the  reception  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  therefore,  ordered 
that  two  ministers  should  be  chosen  annually  by  the  elders  to  go  and 
preach  to  the  Indians  by  means  of  interpreters. 

But  there  was  one  man  in  Massachusetts  who  had  already  determined 
upon  a  more  direct  and  effective  way  of  reaching  the  understandings  of 
these  heathen,  and  who  sought  with  no  less  zeal  than  that  displayed  by 
the  French  Jesuits  in  Canada,  but  with  more  simple  forms  and  a  purer 
faith,  to  save  their  souls.  John  Eliot,  the  teacher  of  the  church  in  Rox- 
bury,  a  man  eminent  for  his  piety  and  his  acquirements,  early  determined 
to  master  the  uncouth  Indian  language,  in  order  that  he  might  teach  the 
natives.  Finding  a  bright  young  Indian,  who  had  been  a  servant  in  the 
house  of  one  of  the  settlers,  "  who  pretty  well  understood  his  own  lan- 
guage, and  had  a  clear  pronunciation,"  he  took  him  into  his  family,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  this  young  teacher,  he  applied  himself  to  learning  the 
limited  vocabulary  of  the  natives.  This  accomplished,  he  constructed 
a  grammar,  and  studied  a  method  of  expressing  abstract  ideas 'with  a 
language  that  contained  little  more  than  the  names  of  natural  objects 
known  to  savages,  and  "words  signifying  acts  common  in  savage  life. 
He  first  translated  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Decalogue,  and  then,  by 
long  and  laborious  application,  accomplished  the  wonderful  work  of 
translating  the  Bible,  and  having  it  printed  at  Cambridge,  where  the 
first  printing-press  was  set  up  in  America. 

While  engaged  on  this  great  labor  he  was  already  earning  his  title  of 
"  Apostle "  to  the  Indians.  He  preached  to  them  for  the  first  time  at 
Nonantum,  whither  he  went,  with  three  others,  at  the  request  of  some 
of  the  Indians,  to  teach  them.  The  visitors  were  met  by  five  or  six 
natives,  and  conducted  to  a  large  wigwam,  where  they  found  "  many 
more  Indians,  men,  women,  children,  gathered  together  from  all  quarters 
round  about."  In  this  primitive  "meeting-house,"  and  before  such  a 
novel  congregation,  religious  services  were  conducted  by  the  ministers, 


348  ELIOT,   THE  APOSTLE  TO  THE  INDIANS. 

one  of  whom  made  a  prayer  in  English,  and  Eliot  then  preached  a  ser- 
mon in  the  Indian  language.  For  an  hour  and  a  quarter  the  preacher 
held  the  attention  of  his  barbarous  hearers,  and  Eliot's  companions  were 
delighted  with  the  apparent  success  of  his  effort.  He  had  already  so  mas- 
tered the  language  that  all  the  Indians  declared  they  understood  him.  The 
natives  manifested  much  curiosity  about  some  of  the  things  told  them, 
and  proposed  not  a  few  childish  questions  for  the  grave  ministers  to 
answer.  After  a  stay  of  three  hours,  Eliot  and  his  friends,  "  having 
given  the  children  some  apples,  and  the  men  some  tobacco,  and  what 
else  they  then  had  at  hand,"  took  leave  of  the  little  congregation,  and 
returned  to  Boston.  This  was  near  the  end  of  October;  and  before 
winter  three  more  visits  were  made  to  the  same  place,  and  Eliot  preached 
to  increased  numbers  of  the  Indians,  who  received  his  instruction  with 
respectful  attention  and  apparent  interest. 

These  "  hopeful  beginnings "  increased  the  interest  in  the  conversion 
of  the  natives,  and,  as  soon  as  the  severe  weather  of  winter  was  past, 
the  missionary  labors  were  resumed  with  great  zeal.  Many  of  the  clergy 
and  magistrates  from  time  to  time  went  out  to  Nonantum  to  hear  Eliot 
hold  forth  to  his  Indian  congregation,  and,  seeing  the  interest  manifested 
by  them,  they  were  ready  to  believe  that  "  these  poor  natives,  the  dregs 
of  mankind,  and  the  saddest  spectacles  of  misery  of  mere  men  upon 
earth,"  wrere  not  wholly  incapable  of  receiving  instruction,  but  were 
only  a  "  degenerate  "  race,  and  might  yet  be  taught  to  know  the  sublime 
truths  of  Christianity. 

When  summer  came,  Eliot  no  longer  preached  in  the  crowded 
cabin,  but  under  the  spreading  branches  of  an  ancient  oak  assembled 
his  tawny  hearers;  and  there  he  taught  them,  as  they  sat  upon  the 
ground  about  him,  explaining  in  their  own  language,  and  by  illustrations 
from  nature  after  their  own  manner,  the  difficulties  which  their  ignorance 
could  not  master.  Nor  did  he  now  confine  himself  to  preaching  and 
catechising  them  at  stated  times,  but  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
their  spiritual  welfare.  He  travelled  among  them  far  and  near,  entering 
their  cabins  and  sharing  their  meagre  fare,  ministering  to  the  sick,  and 
imparting  instruction,  as  occasion  offered. 

While  most  of  the  Indians  received  him  with  kindness,  he  was  vio- 
lently opposed  by  the  sachems  and  powows,  or  priests,  who  were  appre- 


HIS  ZEALOUS  AND   WISE  LABORS.  349 

hensive  of  losing  their  authority  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  religion. 
When  alone  in  the  wilderness,  they  threatened  him  with  captivity,  tor- 
ture, and  death,  if  he  did  not  desist  from  his  efforts  to  convert  their 
people.  But  no  danger  alarmed  him,  and  he  boldly  defied  his  opponents. 
With  a  body  inured  to  hardship  and  fatigue,  and  a  mind  not  to  be  turned 
from  its  purpose,  he  went  from  place  to  place,  carrying  "light  to  the 
children  of  darkness."  His  zeal  prompted  him  to  brave  all  dangers 
and  endure  all  hardships.  "  I  have  not  been  dry,"  he  wrote,  "  night 
or  day,  from  the  third  day  of  the  week  unto  the  sixth;  but  so  travel, 
and  at  night  pull  off  my  boots,  wring  my  stockings,  and  on  with  them 
again,  and  so  continue."  He  made  a  missionary  tour  every  fortnight, 
and  visited  all  the  Indians  in  the  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  col- 
onies, extending  his  journey  to  Cape  Cod. 

Eliot  was  no  visionary,  and  did  not  trust  to  a  supernatural  power  to 
give  success  to  his  preaching.  He  was  early  convinced  that,  to  insure 
success,  it  was  necessary  to  introduce  with  Christianity  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized life.  He  labored,  therefore,  to  induce  the  Indians  to  abandon  a 
nomadic  life  and  hunting  excursions,  and  to  establish  permanent  settle- 
ments, and  adopt  agricultural  pursuits  and  simple  mechanical  arts.  By 
collecting  them  in  villages,  he  could  give  some  "schooling"  to  the  chil- 
dren, with  whom  were  his  best  chances  of  success  in  his  work.  It  was 
no  easy  task  to  induce  the  savages  to  change  their  habits;  but  Eliot's 
indefatigable  exertions  persuaded  some  to  adopt  his  plans,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  government  he  at  last  established  an  Indian  town  at  Natick. 
There  he  collected  a  number  of  Indian  families,  to  each  of  which  land 
was  assigned  for  cultivation;  a  meeting-house  was  built,  a  school  estab- 
lished, and  a  form  of  government,  founded  on  a  Bible  precedent,  was 
organized.  At  Natick,  Eliot  devoted  himself  with  unflagging  zeal  and 
no  little  success  to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  people  whom  he  consid- 
ered as  his  special  charge.  He  still  continued,  however,  his  missionary 
labors  in  other  directions,  and  through  life  visited,  and  counselled,  and 
taught  the  natives  in  various  parts  of  the  colony,  earning,  by  his  self- 
denying  devotion  to  his  work,  the  title  of  "  Apostle."  Meanwhile  he 
labored  with  unflagging  zeal  on  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the 
Indian  tongue,  and  in  supervising  its  printing.  He  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  this  great  work  accomplished  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 


35° 


MA  THE  W. 


the  Indian  youth,  who  by  his  labors  and  that  of  others  were  taught 
to  read. 

On  the  island  of  Martha's  Vineyard  there  was  another  earnest  laborer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  Thomas  Mayhew,  and  his  son  of  the 
same  name,  were  among  the  people  of  Watertown  who  had  a  desire  to 
leave  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction,  and  having  obtained  a  grant  of 
Martha's  Vineyard,  with  some  others  settled  on  the  island.  The  be- 
nighted condition  of  the  natives  there  excited  their  pity,  and  they 
endeavored  to  instruct  them  in  religion,  and  lead  them  into  the  habits 
of  civilized  life.  The  younger  Mayhew,  who  was  a  minister,  soon 
devoted  himself  wholly  to  this  missionary  work,  and  with  great  success. 
He  learned  the  language  of  the  natives,  conciliated  them  by  kindness, 
and  persuaded  them  to  receive  the  religious  truths  he  taught.  In  a  few 
years  he  induced  nearly  three  hundred  of  the  Indians  formally  to  em- 
brace Christianity,  and  among  them  were  some  who  were  really  converted. 
One  of  their  number  was  especially  interested  in  religion  from  the  first, 
and,  under  the  instruction  of  Mayhew,  after  some  years  became  a 
preacher  to  his  people. 

Mayhew's  labors  were  brought  to  an  end  by  his  premature  death. 
He  embarked  for  England,  with  some  of  his  converts,  to  obtain  aid  for 
his  missionary  work,  but  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  was  never  heard 
of  afterwards.  His  father,  though  an  old  man,  did  not  suffer  the  enter- 
prise to  languish,  but  continued  the  work  "  with  his  best  strength  and 
skill  until  more  than  fourscore  years  of  age." 

In  Connecticut,  efforts  were  also  made  to  convert  the  Indians,  but 
with  indifferent  success.  No  one  there  undertook  the  work  with  such 
zeal,  devotion,  and  special  qualifications  for  the  task  as  Eliot,  and  the 
more  numerous  and  warlike  tribes  of  that  region  proved  less  tractable 
than  the  poor  and  scattered  natives  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth.  In 
Rhode  Island,  where  much  might  have  been  expected  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams, from  his  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians  and  his  knowledge 
of  their  language,  still  less  was  accomplished.  The  Narragansetts  and 
Nyantics  were  a  proud  and  warlike  race,  and  little  disposed  to  receive 
instruction  from  the  whites;  and  the  conduct  of  many  of  the  turbulent 
settlers  there  was  neither  exemplary  nor  such  as  to  inspire  the  natives 
with  respect.  Instead  of  converting  them  to  Christianity,  they  rather 


CHARACTER   OF  CONVERSIONS. 


351 


encouraged  their  barbarous  propensities,  and  instigated  them  to  acts  of 
treachery  and  war,  which  were  virtues,  according  to  their  savage  creed. 

The  results  of  Puritan  efforts  to  convert  the  Indians  appear  meagre 
beside  the  wholesale  baptism  with  which  the  French  priests  swept 
families  and  tribes  into  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  The  sensuous 
ceremonies  and  symbols  of  the  Roman  church  appealed  forcibly  to  the 
simple  and  superstitious  minds  of  the  savages;  and  when,  impressed  by 
these  ceremonies,  they  transferred  their  blind  faith  from  their  rude  okies 
to  the  cross  and  images,  the  sacramental  act  of  the  priest  was  all  that 
was  necessary  in  order  to  count  them  as  converts.  The  Puritans  labored 
only  with  the  abstract  truths  of  religion  and  the  simplest  forms  of  wor- 
ship, and  aimed  at  a  real  conversion  of  the  savage  nature  to  civilized 
and  Christian  life.  If  such  conversions  were  comparatively  few,  they 
had  the  merit  of  being  genuine  and  practical,  and,  so  far  at  least,  of 
more  value  than  thousands  of  merely  formal  professions,  or  symbolical 
rites  which  were  symbolical  only  to  him  who  performed  them. 

The  converted  natives  were  known  as  "  praying  Indians,"  and  were 
treated  with  rather  more  respect  and  confidence  by  the  whites  than 
were  their  unconverted  brethren.  But  not  all  those  who  were  known 
as  praying  Indians  continued  very  saintly,  and  during  King  Philip's  war, 
while  most  of  them  were  friendly,  and  faithful  to  their  promises,  with 
some  their  savage  nature  was  too  strong  for  the  newly-received  gospel 
of  peace,  and  with  acts  of  treachery  they  joined  the  hostile  tribes. 


XLII. 


PERSECUTION   OF   QUAKERS. 


|N  1656,  Governor  Endicot  and  the  magistrates  and  minis- 
ters of  Massachusetts  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  alarm 
and  resentment.  A  new  sect,  called  by  themselves 
"  Friends,"  and  by  their  opponents  "  Quakers,"  had  ap- 
peared in  England,  under  the  lead  of  George  Fox. 
While  promulgating  some  excellent  principles,  they  were 
fanatical  and  extravagant.  They  were  opposed  alike  to 
the  established  church  and  to  Independents.  They  de- 
nounced "  steeple-houses "  and  ministers,  courts  and  judges.  They 
created  discord  and  provoked  riots.  They  brought  upon  themselves 
persecution  and  punishment,  and  by  their  martyrdom  multiplied  their 
proselytes.  They  so  increased  in  numbers  and  in  their  fanatical  efforts 
at  proselytism,  and  caused  so  much  disturbance,  that  they  became  a 
serious  source  of  trouble  to  the  government.  They  had  carried  their 
new  doctrines  all  over  Europe,  even  to  the  Vatican  itself,  and  now,  at 
last,  some  of  the  preachers  of  this  strange  creed  had  come  to  New 
England  as  "  seducers  and  false  prophets." 

The  Puritans  regarded  the  country  which  they  had  settled  as  their 
own  special  domain,  from  which  they  had  a  right  to  drive  all  obnox- 
ious persons;  their  religion,  which  they  had  crossed  the  sea  to  enjoy 
undisturbed,  they  considered  it  their  duty  to  protect  against  all  heretical 
assaults.  They  had  hitherto  acted  on  these  principles,  and  decreed  ban- 
ishment and  death  to  those  who  opposed  their  religious  doctrines  and 
their  system  of  government.  The  reports  from  England,  and  some  of 

352 


ENDICOT,   BELLINGHAM,  AND  NORTON  CONFER.         353 

the  Quaker  books  which  had  been  brought  over,  satisfied  them  that 
here  was  a  heresy  more  dangerous  and  deadly  than  any  they  had  before 
encountered,  and  they  were  determined,  if  it  should  appear  within  their 
jurisdiction,  that  it  should  be  crushed  out. 

Endicot,  the  sternest  of  Puritans,  and  a  man  of  vehement  character, 
was  governor,  and  Bellingham,  a  man  of  greater  capacity  but  scarcely 
less  severe,  and  more  imperious  in  temper,  was  deputy  governor.  They 
were  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  colony,  and  the  guardians  of  its  civil 
and  religious  interests,  and  from  the  Puritan  point  of  view  they  were 
the  men  for  the  times.  When  it  was  announced  that  a  vessel  had 
arrived  at  Boston,  from  Barbadoes,  bringing  two  women  of  this  new 
and  dangerous  sect,  Endicot  speedily  summoned  Bellingham  and  the 
Rev.  John  Norton,  teacher  of  the  church  in  Boston  and  the  leading 
minister  of  Massachusetts,  to  consult  upon  what  should  be  done.  Nor- 
ton was  a  man  of  great  ability,  but  of  a  melancholy  temperament,  which 
made  his  religion  more  rigid  and  gloomy  than  that  of  his  most  austere 
brethren.  His  mind  dwelt  upon  the  denunciations  of  the  Prophets  and 
the  terrors  of  the  Apocalypse.  With  him  all  heresy  was  accursed,  and 
its  teachers  worthy  of  the  severest  punishment;  and  the  Quakers  were 
the  most  blasphemous  of  heretics. 

The  three  stern  Puritans  were  not  long  in  determining  what  ought 
to  be  done  with  these  two  women  of  the  hated  sect.  Norton  set  forth 
in  gloomiest  colors  the  evils  that  would  result  if  they  were  allowed  to 
promulgate  their  pestilent  heresies,  and  called  upon  the  civil  govern- 
ment to  exercise  its  authority  for  the  protection  of  religion.  Endicot 
and  Bellingham  needed  no  urging;  they  were  as  ready  to  act  as  Norton 
was  to  advise.  Several  of  the  magistrates  were  summoned,  that  meas- 
ures might  be  adopted  with  due  authority,  and  these  assented  to  the 
necessity  of  prompt  action.  An  order  was  forthwith  issued  to  arrest 
the  two  women,  and  confine  them  in  jail  until  they  could  be  carried 
back  to  the  place  whence  they  came;  and  the  master  of  the  vessel  was 
ordered  to  give  bonds  to  carry  them  back.  Scarcely  had  the  presumed 
offenders  stepped  on  shore  when  they  were  met  by  the  constable,  who 
led  them  away  to  jail,  and  the  indignant  sea-captain  was  bound,  in  spite 
of  his  protests,  to  carry  his  dangerous  passengers  out  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  Massachusetts. 

NO.  ix.  45 


354  PERSECUTION  OF  QUAKERS. 

Nor  was  this  all  that  was  done  to  save  the  good  people  from  the 
evils  threatened  by  these  two  disciples  of  George  Fox.  They  had  some 
books  and  tracts,  supposed  to  contain  the  heresies  and  blasphemies  of 
the  Quakers.  These  were  seized  and  ordered  to  be  burned.  In  the 
open  space  before  the  "  meeting-house,"  where  stood  the  stocks  and 
pillory,  the  public  functionary  who  performed  the  service  of  whipping 
culprits,  putting  them  in  the  stocks,  and  hanging,  with  due  solemnity 
made  a  small  pile  of  fagots,  while  the  people  of  all  ages  gathered  around 
at  a  respectful  distance,  wondering  what  might  be  the  meaning  of  this 
unusual  proceeding.  The  fagots  were  lighted,  and  the  constable  deliv- 
ered to  the  executioner  a  few  books  and  papers  which  were  condemned 
to  be  ignominiously  destroyed.  Proclaiming  the  doom  of  these  wicked 
books,  as  ordered  by  the  worthy  magistrates,  the  executioner  threw  them 
into  the  flames,  and  made  sure  that  they  were  reduced  to  ashes.  Norton 
and  the  more  austere  Puritans  doubtless  indulged  in  devout  thanksgiving 
that  these  pestilent  seeds  had  been  utterly  destroyed.  Were  there  none 
in  the  crowd  of  spectators  of  that  solemn  farce  who  felt  how  vain  was 
the  destruction  of  these  inanimate  objects,  whose  living  spirit  had 
already  taken  possession  of  the  hearts  of  multitudes? 

The  two  unfortunate  Quaker  women  remained  in  jail  a  month,  unable 
to  preach  their  heresies,  or  to  indulge  in  vituperation  within  hearing  of 
anybody  but  the  jailer.  The  vessel  in  which  they  came  being  then 
ready  to  sail,  they  were  released  from  their  confinement  and  placed  on 
board,  and  the  magistrates  and  ministers  breathed  more  freely.  But 
these  obnoxious  visitors  were  scarcely  out  of  sight  of  land  when  another 
vessel  arrived  bringing  from  England  eight  others  of  the  same  dreaded 
sect,  four  men  and  four  women.  What  would  be  the  result  if  this 
band  of  fanatics  were  let  loose  in  the  colony!  The  magistrates  had  no 
idea  of  trying  the  experiment,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  such 
dangerous  persons  were  on  board  the  newly-arrived  ship,  officers  prompt- 
ly arrested  them  before  they  landed,  and  led  them  away  to  jail. 

These  new-comers  were  missionaries  of  the  true  fanatical  type,  who 
had  preached  and  been  persecuted  in  England,  and  were  proficients  in 
the  extravagant  and  opprobrious  language  which  had  provoked  riot  and 
bloodshed  there.  They  were  brought  before  the  magistrates  for  exam- 
ination, and  when  they  let  loose  their  tongues  the  examiners  were  over- 


MART  PRINCE  MEETS   THE  MINISTERS.  355 

whelmed  with  a  torrent  of  abuse  in  which  the  language  of  Billingsgate 
was  translated  into  words  and  phrases  from  scripture.  The  magistrates 
were  of  course  provoked  to  anger,  as  well  as  aroused  still  more  to  the 
dangers  from  these  blasphemers,  and  the  offenders  were  promptly  or- 
dered to  be  sent  back  to  England,  and  meantime  to  lie  in  jail  till  the 
vessel  which  brought  them  was  ready  to  sail;  and  the  master  was 
required  to  give  bonds  to  carry  them  away. 

But  though  their  anticipated  career  in  Boston  was  thus  summarily 
suppressed,  one  at  least  of  the  Quakers,  Mary  Prince,  was  determined 
that  her  voice  should  be  heard,  and  when  Governor  Endicot  was  walk- 
ing home  from  the  church  on  Sunday,  in  state,  accompanied  by  min- 
ister Norton,  as  he  passed  near  the  jail  he  was  addressed  in  a  shrill 
voice  by  this  woman  from  one  of  the  windows.  She  denounced  him 
and  the  magistrates  in  the  vituperative  language  in  which  most  of  the 
sect  indulged  towards  rulers  and  clergy.  The  people  walking  quietly 
homeward  behind  the  governor  were  scandalized,  and  the  stern  Endicot 
gave  orders  to  have  her  silenced,  and  went  his  way.  But  Norton  had 
a  desire  to  meet  this  fanatical  heretic,  and  with  his  magazine  of  reli- 
gious weapons,  in  the  shape  of  scriptural  quotations  and  arguments,  to 
silence  if  not  to  convince  her.  He  advised  the  governor  to  have  her 
brought  to  his  house,  where,  with  one  of  his  brother  teachers,  he  might 
labor  for  her  conversion.  Endicot,  always  ready  to  comply  with  the 
advice  of  the  devout  minister,  accordingly  gave  the  necessary  orders. 

In  the  governor's  comfortable  and  well-furnished  house  we  can 
imagine  that  Endicot  and  Bellingham,  with  two  or  three  of  the  magis- 
trates, and  Norton  with  another  minister,  awaited  the  appointed  inter- 
view with  the  Quaker  woman.  The  melancholy  and  austere  Norton 
was  filled  with  forebodings,  — 

"  A  vision  of  sin  more  awful  and  appalling 
Than  any  phantasm,  ghost,  or  apparition, 
As  arguing  and  portending  some  enlargement 
Of  the  mysterious  Power  of  Darkness  ! " 

While  the  minister  indulged  such  gloomy  thoughts  the  constable  ushered 
in  the  prisoner.  She  was  by  no  means  abashed  by  the  dignified  and 
solemn  company,  and  when  the  governor  bade  her  be  seated,  and  told 


356  PERSECUTION  OF  QUAKERS. 

her  that  she  had  been  summoned  to  meet  and  converse  with  two  of 
the  most  excellent  ministers  of  the  gospel,  her  tongue  was  immediately 
loosed,  and  she  stigmatized  those  worthies  as  "  hirelings,  Baals,  and  seed 
of  the  serpent."  Norton  and  his  brother  minister  in  vain  put  questions 
and  quoted  scripture  in  reply  to  her  denunciations;  she  was  proof  against 
all  their  inquisition  and  all  their  arguments.  To  them  her  language  was 
blasphemous,  and  they  were  only  the  more  impressed  with  the  wicked- 
ness of  this  heretical  sect.  She  was  sent  back  to  the  jail  feeling  she 
had  got  the  best  of  the  controversy,  and  rejoicing  that  she  had  had  the 
opportunity  to  assail  these  "  priests."  Norton,  magnifying  the  evils  which 
\vould  result  if  such  "  blaspheming  heretics "  were  let  loose  in  the  col- 
ony, reminded  the  governor  and  magistrates  of  their  duty  to  protect 
religion  from  these  assaults  of  the  enemy,  bidding  them  — 

"Not  neglect 
The  holy  tactics  of  the  civil  sword." 

The  Puritan  magnates  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  disregard  his 
injunctions.  They  had  seen  the  discomfiture  of  their  clergy  in  this 
contest  with  one  of  the  fanatics,  and  they  were  convinced  that  — 

"  All  blasphemies  immediate 
And  heresies  turbulent  must  be  suppressed 
By  civil  power,"  — 

and  they  then  determined  that  to  that  end  the  civil  power  should  be 
fully  exercised  as  occasion  required. 

This  party  of  Quakers  remained  in  jail  eleven  weeks  before  the 
vessel  that  was  to  carry  them  back  to  England  was  ready  to  sail. 
Meanwhile  the  irrepressible  Gorton,  who,  though  not  a  Quaker,  was 
ready  to  do  anything  to  annoy  the  magistrates  of  Massachusetts,  secretly 
offered  to  intercept  the  ship  and  take  them  to  Narragansett  Bay.  But 
this  scheme  was  frustrated  by  the  magistrates. 

While  the  Quakers  were  yet  in  the  Boston  jail,  the  commissioners 
of  the  United  Colonies  met  and  proposed  to  the  several  General  Courts 
"  that  all  Quakers,  Ranters,  and  other  notorious  heretics  should  be  pro- 
hibited coming  into  the  United  Colonies,  and  if  any  should  hereafter 
come  or  arise,  that  they  should  be  forthwith  secured  or  removed  out  of 


MASSACHUSETTS  LAWS  AGAINST  QUAKERS.  357 

all  the  jurisdictions."  The  several  colonies  did  not  fail  to  act  on  this 
recommendation.  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  and  Plymouth  imposed 
heavy  fines  on  every  town  that  should  entertain  such  heretics,  ordered 
them  to  be  confined  till  they  could  be  sent  away,  and  compelled  the 
masters  of  vessels  who  brought  the  intruders  to  carry  them  away  again. 
The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  took  hold  of  the  matter  more 
seriously,  and  under  the  lead  of  Endicot  and  Bellingham,  who  were 
prompted  by  Norton,  passed  laws  which  were  gradually  increased  in 
severity  till  the  public  sense  of  justice  was  outraged. 

One  fine  October  morning,  the  roll  of  the  drum  called  all  the  good 
people  within  hearing  to  the  front  of  the  meeting-house  in  Boston,  where 
a  herald  or  crier  proclaimed  the  laws  which  the  General  Court  had 
enacted  against  the  "  cursed  sect  of  heretics  lately  risen  up  in  the  world, 
which  are  commonly  called  Quakers."  The  laws  provided  that  ship- 
masters who  should  bring  Quakers  into  the  jurisdiction  should  pay  a 
fine  of  one  hundred  pounds,  and  give  security  for  the  transportation  of 
such  passengers  back  to  the  port  from  which  they  came;  that  Quakers 
coming  into  the  colony  should  be  forthwith  committed  to  the  house  of 
correction,  and  at  their  entrance  should  be  severely  whipped,  and  there- 
after kept  constantly  at  work,  and  no  one  should  be  suffered  to  converse 
with  them  during  the  time  of  their  imprisonment;  that  whoever  im- 
ported, circulated,  or  concealed  Quaker  books  should  incur  a  fine  of  five 
pounds;  that  persons  presuming  to  defend  the  heretical  opinions  of  the 
Quakers  should  be  punished,  for  the  first  offence,  by  a  fine  of  two 
pounds,  for  a  second  by  a  fine  of  four  pounds,  and  for  a  third  by  im- 
prisonment in  the  house  of  correction  till  they  could  be  sent  out  of  the 
colony;  and  finally  that  "what  person  or  persons  soever  should  revile 
the  office  or  person  of  magistrates  or  ministers,  as  was  usual  with  the 
Quakers,  such  person  or  persons  should  be  severely  whipped,  or  pay  the 
sum  of  five  pounds." 

This  unusual  manner  of  promulgating  laws,  as  was  intended,  brought 
them  to  the  notice  of  all  the  people,  and  created  no  little  stir,  and  a 
variety  of  sentiment,  if  not  of  expression.  The  devout  church-member 
rejoiced  that  the  court  had  taken  this  dangerous  heresy  in  hand;  the 
merchant  calculated  his  chances  of  being  required  to  become  bondsman 
for  some  shipmaster  who  might  bring  with  his  merchandise  an  unwel- 


358  PERSECUTION  OF  QUAKERS. 

come  passenger;  and  people  of  more  liberal  tendencies  than  the  Puritan 
leaders  saw  the  dangers  which  might  threaten  their  indiscreet  benev- 
olence or  utterances.  Old  Nicholas  Upsall,  a  worthy  citizen,  who  was 
no  Quaker,  but  was  in  the  habit  of  thinking  for  himself,  could  not 
restrain  his  disapproval  of  the  laws,  and  openly  condemned  the  magis- 
trates for  the  spirit  of  persecution  which  they  manifested.  There  were 
not  wanting  those  who,  from  malice  or  excess  of  respect  for  the  laws, 
reported  Upsall's  language  to  the  magistrates,  and  he  was  brought  before 
the  court  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds,  and  to  depart 
the  jurisdiction  within  a  month,  not  to  return  under  penalty  of  imprison- 
ment. This  punishment  seems  to  have  been  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court,  for  it  exceeded  that  provided  by  the  law  which  Upsall  had  de- 
nounced. Upsall  left  the  colony,  but  after  two  or  three  years'  absence 
returned,  and  was  imprisoned. 

The  Quakers  evidently  courted  martyrdom.  When  the  attitude  of 
New  England  towards  them  was  known  in  England,  they  began  to  come 
over,  "to  warn  these  persecutors  to  desist  from  their  iniquity."  First 
came  two  women  of  the  sect,  one  of  them  the  wife  of  the  secretary  of 
Rhode  Island.  The  latter  was  delivered  to  her  husband  to  be  con- 
ducted home,  and  the  other  was  sent  back  to  London.  Mary  Clarke, 
•who  came  soon  after  with  a  more  vituperative  tongue,  was  whipped  and 
sent  away.  Two  of  the  party  who  had  been  sent  back  to  England 
again  made  their  appearance,  and  shocked  the  good  people  of  Salem 
by  interrupting  the  services  at  church.  They  were  arrested,  whipped, 
and  imprisoned;  and  an  unfortunate  couple,  for  harboring  them,  were 
also  put  in  jail.  Another  soon  appeared,  to  cry  out  against  persecution, 
and  he,  too,  was  whipped  and  imprisoned. 

It  now  appeared  that  a  number  of  this  "  accursed  and  pernicious 
sect  of  heretics  "  had  come  from  London  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  were 
finding  their  way  into  New  England.  Such  men  as  Norton  demanded 
that  the  laws  be  made  more  stringent,  and  the  General  Court  complied. 
The  fine  for  harboring  Quakers  was  increased  to  forty  shillings  for  every 
hour,  and  it  was  provided  that  every  Quaker  coming  into  the  jurisdiction 
after  having  been  once  punished  should,  for  the  first  offence,  have  one 
ear  cut  off;  for  the  second  offence,  should  have  the  other  cut  off;  and 
for  the  third,  should  have  the  tongue  bored  through  with  a  hot  iron. 


STRINGENT  LAWS  RECOMMENDED.  359 

These  punishments,  it  may  be  observed,  were  no  inventions  of  the  Pu- 
ritans, but  were  at  that  period  well  known  and  too  often  inflicted  in 
the  mother  country.  Three  of  the  fanatics  who  persisted  in  martyrdom 
were  each  punished  by  the  loss  of  one  ear. 

The  persistence  of  these  people  was  alarming,  and  Endicot,  Belling- 
ham,  Norton,  and  others  took  counsel  together  for  further  measures 
against  them.  The  Federal  Commissioners  being  in  session  at  Boston, 
the  matter  was  again  brought  before  them.  Endicot  was  one  of  the 
commissioners,  and  their  president;  and  the  influence  of  Norton  and 
Bellingham,  by  reason  of  their  position  and  ability,  was  very  great. 
With  a  preamble  reciting  the  wicked  actions  of  the  Quakers,  and  the 
evils  which  must  result  from  the  spread  of  their  "  pernicious  and  devil- 
ish opinions,"  the  commissioners  recommended  to  the  several  colonial 
governments  "  to  make  a  law  that  all  such  Quakers  formerly  convicted 
and  punished  as  such  shall,  if  they  return  again,  be  imprisoned  and  forth- 
with banished  or  expelled  out  of  the  said  jurisdiction  under  pain  of 
death;  and  if  afterwards  they  presume  to  come  again  into  that  jurisdic- 
tion, then  to  be  put  to  death  as  presumptuously  incorrigible,  unless  they 
shall  plainly  and  publicly  renounce  their  cursed  opinions:"  and  that 
those  coming  for  the  first  time,  upon  conviction,  be  banished,  under  pain 
of  severe  corporal  punishment;  "and  if  they  return  again,  then  to  be 
punished  accordingly  and  banished  under  pain  of  death;  and  if  after- 
wards they  shall  yet  presume  to  come  again,  then  to  be  put  to  death  as 
aforesaid,  except  they  do  then  and  there  plainly  and  publicly  renounce 
their  said  cursed  opinions  and  devilish  tenets." 

Massachusetts  alone  complied  with  the  letter  of  this  recommenda- 
tion. It  originated  with  men  of  that  colony,  and  doubtless  with  Norton 
and  Bellingham.  Under  the  influence  of  such  men,  a  number  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  Boston  petitioned  for  more  stringent  measures  of  pro- 
tection against  the  Quakers.  Banishment  upon  pain  of  death  had  been 
resorted  to  in  a  number  of  previous  instances,  and  those  against  whom 
such  sentence  had  been  passed  had  in  each  case  remained  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  colony.  It  was,  without  doubt,  supposed  that  the 
penalty  would  be  equally  effectual  in  keeping  the  Quakers  away.  The 
magistrates  without  hesitation  passed  a  law  such  as  the  Federal  Com- 
missioners proposed,  but  the  deputies  were  not  so  ready  to  adopt  such 


360  PERSECUTION  OF  QUAKERS. 

extreme  measures.  The  law  was  warmly  contested,  and  at  last  passed 
by  a  majority  of  only  one  vote.  It  provided  that  thereafter  persons  con- 
victed by  a  jury  as  being  Quakers  should  be  sentenced  to  banishment 
under  pain  of  death.  But  there  was  such  a  strong  public  sentiment  against 
so  extreme  a  penalty,  that  Norton,  who  was  the  ablest  as  well  as  the 
most  vehement  advocate  of  the  law,  was  requested  to  draw  up  a  dec- 
laration to  show  "  the  evil  of  the  tenets  of  the  Quakers,  and  danger  of 
their  practices." 

It  was  not  long  before  there  was  occasion  to  put  the  severe  law  in 
force.  At  first  six  Quakers  were  banished,  with  the  threat  of  death  if 
they  returned,  and,  not  being  of  the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are  made, 
they  did  not  see  fit  to  return  and  run  so  great  a  risk.  But  such  was  not  the 
character  of  many  of  the  sect,  and  when  the  law  became  known  abroad, 
some  of  the  fanatics  made  haste  to  come  to  Boston,  to  lay  down  their 
lives.  Four  of  these  —  among  them  Mary  Dyer,  the  wife  of  the  secre- 
tary of  Rhode  Island,  who  had  before  been  carried  away  by  her  hus- 
band—  made  their  appearance  about  the  same  time  in  Boston,  and  com- 
menced their  offensive  practices.  They  were  arrested  and  tried,  and 
sentenced  to  be  banished;  and  the  court  seems  to  have  construed  the 
law  to  suit  the  case  by  adding,  that  the  offenders  should  suffer  death 
unless  they  withdrew  from  the  jurisdiction.  Mary  Dyer  and  one  other 
concluded  to  depart;  but  the  other  two  —  Stevenson  and  Robinson  — 
were  bold  enough  to  remain,  and  "try  the  bloody  law  unto  death." 
They  wandered  northward  for  a  short  time,  and  then  made  their  appear- 
ance in  Salem,  where  they  were  joined  by  some  friends  and  proceeded 
to  Boston,  one  of  the  Salem  women  carrying  with  her  some  linen,  as 
she  said,  "for  the  winding-sheets  of  those  who  were  to  suffer."  Mary 
Dyer,  too,  repenting  her  weakness,  returned  about  the  same  time.  They 
were  all  brought  again  before  the  court,  and  fearlessly  avowing  them- 
selves to  be  the  persons  recently  banished,  they  were  sentenced  to.be 
hanged. 

When  this  sentence  was  announced,  there  was  not  a  little  excitement 
among  the  staid  people  of  Boston.  While  some,  upholding  the  majesty 
of  the  law,  approved  the  firmness  of  the  court,  there  were  many  who 
more  strongly  condemned  the  severity  of  the  punishment  as  unnecessary 
and  cruel.  So  dee.ply  were  the  people  moved  that  the  magistrates  feared 


AN  EXECUTION  ON  BOSTON  COMMON. 


361 


an  outbreak  and  the  liberation  of  the  prisoners.  The  selectmen  of  Bos- 
ton were  required  "  to  press  ten  or  twelve  able  and  faithful  persons  every 
night,"  to  guard  the  prison;  and  a  strong  body  of  military,  provided 
"  with  powder  and  bullet,"  were  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  on  the  day 
of  execution,  which  followed  eight  days  after  the  condemnation. 

On  the  appointed  day,  the  inhabitants  of  Boston  and  the  neighboring 
towns,  young  and  old,  left  their  usual  occupations,  and  thronged  about 
the  jail  and  along  the  roadway  leading  to  the  place  of  execution.  On 
Boston  Common  the  fatal  gallows  had  been  erected,  and  there,  too,  the 
people  gathered,  looking  with  awe,  or  indignation,  or  shame,  upon  the 
preparations  for  the  final  act  in  this  unhappy  drama.  A  company  of 
soldiers  was  distributed  at  various  points  to  preserve  order,  and  check 
any  disposition  towards  a  popular  outbreak,  while  around  the  jail  stood 
a  hundred  more,  with  pike  and  musket,  to  guard  the  prisoners  and  lead 
them  to  their  fate. 

At  last  the  three  condemned  Quakers  are  led  forth  from  the  prison, 
and  the  solemn  procession  takes  its  way  to  the  Common.  A  strong 
body  of  soldiers  leads  the  column  and  guards  them  on  either  side  and 
in  the  rear,  while  they  walk  hand  in  hand,  Mary  Dyer  between  the  other 
two,  with  firm  step  and  the  exalted  spirit  of  martyrs.  While  there  are 
not  wanting  those  who  hoot  and  jeer  the  victims,  a  murmur  runs  through 
the  crowd  of  spectators  as  they  pass:  a  murmur  which  means,  with  some, 
abhorrence  of  heresy,  with  others  pity  for  the  condemned,  and  with  still 
others  indignation  at  the  cruel  law.  The  people  follow  closely,  and  when 
the  procession  reaches  the  gallows,  few  are  left  in  the  town  for  the 
sentinels  to  watch.  Without  quailing,  the  victims  behold  the  instru- 
ment of  death,  and  without  a  tremor  submit  their  necks  to  the  hang- 
man's busy  hands.  They  stand  each  with  a  halter  about  their  necks, 
and  presently  the  two  men  are  launched  into  eternity,  but  Mary  Dyer 
still  stands  unharmed.  A  shudder  of  horror  is  quickly  followed  by  an 
exclamation  of  astonishment  among  the  spectators,  and  happily  that 
is  succeeded  by  a  sense  of  relief  that  one  of  the  intended  victims  is 
spared. 

The  magistrates  of  Massachusetts  had  indulged  in  a  bit  of  melo- 
dramatic artifice.  Mary  Dyer's  son  had  come  from  Rhode  Island  to 
intercede  for  his  mother,  and  while  they  had  listened  to  his  application, 

NO.    X.  46 


362  PERSECUTION  OF  QUAKERS. 

they  gave  no  sign  to  the  victim,  if  indeed  they  did  to  the  applicant,  that 
the  prayer  would  be  granted.  They  thought  that  by  taking  the  offender 
to  the  verge  of  death,  placing  her  upon  the  scaffold  with  a  halter  round 
her  neck,  and  executing  the  extreme  penalty  upon  her  companions  at 
her  side,  she  might  be  so  terrified  by  her  position,  and  so  thankful  for 
her  narrow  escape,  that  she  would  abjure  her  heresy,  or  certainly  never 
more  trouble  the  people  of  Massachusetts. 

Not  exactly  satisfied  with  herself  for  so  doing,  Mary  Dyer  accepted 
her  chance  of  escape,  and  consented  to  depart  with  her  son.  But  she 
regretted  that  her  martyrdom  was  not  complete,  and  in  the  following 
spring,  in  a  more  exalted  state  of  mind,  she  returned  to  Boston,  and 
again  braved  the  terrors  of  the  law  by  denouncing  it  and  its  framers. 
She  was  again  brought  before  the  court,  and  once  more  condemned  to 
death.  Again  the  people  thronged  to  the  Common,  some  jeering  and 
some  murmuring  as  before.  When  the  halter  was  placed  around  her 
neck,  the  offer  was  made  to  release  her  yet  once  more  if  she  would 
promise  henceforth  to  keep  out  of  Massachusetts.  But  she  now  had 
the  full  courage  of  a  martyr,  and  refused  the  offer,  saying,  "  In  obedience 
to  the  will  of  the  Lord  I  came,  and  in  his  will  I  abide  faithful  to  the 
death."  The  hangman  performed  his  office,  and  the  people  withdrew 
from  the  sad  scene  with  increasing  dissatisfaction  with  the  persecution 
which  the  government  had  inaugurated. 

But  in  spite  of  the  manifestations  of  popular  disapproval,  the  gal- 
lows soon  found  another  victim  among  the  Quakers.  William  Leddra 
had  been  imprisoned  for  creating  a  disturbance  in  Salem,  and  had  been 
repeatedly  whipped  for  his  obstinate  refusal  to  work  while  in  confine- 
ment. At  last  he  was  banished,  under  penalty  of  death  if  he  returned. 
The  threat  did  not  deter  him,  and  he  again  found  himself  in  prison. 
At  his  trial  the  popular  sentiment  influenced  the  magistrates  so  far  as 
to  induce  them  to  offer  him  his  liberty  if  he  would  go  to  England  and 
not  return.  He  would  not  accept  the  conditions,  and  was  condemned 
and  executed. 

Meanwhile  there  had  been  many  Quakers  on  their  first  visit  to  the 
country,  and  some  sympathizers  among  the  people,  who  were  impris- 
oned and  whipped.  Some  of  these  offenders  made  themselves  extremely 
obnoxious,  and  committed  offences  against  decency  as  well  as  the  reli- 


GOVERNOR  ENDICOT'S  ZEAL.  363 

gious  opinions  of  the  Puritans.  Two  women,  in  their  zeal  to  give  a 
sign  of  the  spiritual  nakedness  of  the  people,  went  naked  through  the 
streets  and  into  public  assemblies.  Another,  with  her  face  blackened, 
appeared  in  church  as  a  sign  of  the  blackness  of  the  sins  of  the  con- 
gregation. One  man  went  into  the  meeting-house  in  Boston  with  two 
bottles  which  he  dashed  upon  the  floor  before  the  people,  crying,  "  Thus 
will  the  Lord  break  you  in  pieces!"  They  denounced  the  magistrates 
as  guilty  of  bloodshed,  and  proclaimed  through  the  streets  that  the  Lord 
was  coming  with  fire  and  sword  to  plead  with  them.  Such  maniacs 
and  disturbers  of  the  peace  might  well  be  confined,  but  the  penalties 
inflicted  beyond  confinement  were  cruel  and  useless,  and  among  the 
people  who  were  not  over-zealous  Puritans  were  more  and  more  dis- 
approved. 

In  spite  of  the  murmurings  of  the  people,  however,  those  in  authority 
seemed  determined  to  execute  the  law  they  had  framed,  and  to  stamp 
out  the  heresy  which  they  deemed  so  dangerous.  If  Governor  Endicot, 
moved  by  pity,  had  any  misgivings  as  to  his  course,  his  stern  sense  of 
duty  to  the  colony,  to  the  magistracy,  and  to  religion  overruled  them. 
At  his  elbow,  too,  stood  an  outward  conscience  in  the  shape  of  Minister 
Norton,  who  would  not  permit  him  to  falter,  but  with  stern  arguments 
and  potent  texts,  bade  him  go  on:  — 

"The  hand  that  cut 

The  Red  Cross  from  the  colors  of  the  king 
Can  cut  the  red  heart  from  this  heresy. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  declares 

That  if  thy  son,  thy  daughter,  or  thy  wife, 

Ay,  or  the  friend  which  is  as  thine  own  soul, 

Entice  thee  secretly,  and  say  to  thee, 

Let  us  serve  other  gods,  then  shall  thine  eye 

Not  pity  him,  but  thou  shalt  surely  kill  him, 

And  thine  own  hand  shall  be  the  first  upon  him 

To  slay  him." 

The  governor's  zeal  was  manifested  with  no  little  violence  at  the 
trial,  which  resulted  in  condemnation  to  death  for  the  last  time  against 


364  PERSECUTION' OF  QUAKERS. 

the  Quakers.  Wenlock  Christison,  who  had  been  banished,  suddenly 
appeared  in  court  at  Leddra's  trial,  saying,  "  I  come  here  to  warn  you 
that  ye  shed  no  more  innocent  blood!"  He  was  arrested  and  brought 
to  trial  under  the  law  which  imposed  the  penalty  of  death.  But  the 
magistrates  had  begun  to  waver;  they  feared  the  murmuring  of  the 
people,  or  they  began  to  share  the  popular  disapproval  of  such  extreme 
punishment.  For  two  weeks  they  deliberated  on  their  verdict,  and  a 
majority  were  yet  unwilling  to  condemn  the  accused  to  death.  The 
governor  was  vexed  at  the  delay,  and  what  he  considered  their  cow- 
ardice. "  Flinging  something  furiously  on  the  table,  he  said,  '  I  could 
find  it  in  my  heart  to  go  home,'"  meaning  to  England.  Putting  the 
question  once  more,  he  cried,  in  angry  voice,  "  You  that  will  not  con- 
sent, record  it!  I  thank  God  I  am  not  afraid  to  give  judgment!"  The 
stern  old  governor's  violence  had  its  effect:  a  majority  of  the  magistrates 
were  subdued  to  his  will,  and  Christison  was  condemned  to  be  hanged. 
But  the  dread  sentence  was  never  executed.  Public  sentiment  had 
grown  so  strong  against  it  that  Christison  was  respited,  and  finally 
was  released,  upon  his  offer  to  "depart  this  jurisdiction." 

When  next  the  General  Court  assembled,  the  question  of  punishing 
the  Quakers  again  came  before  it,  and  there  was  a  strong  opposition  to 
inflicting  the  death  penalty.  But  there  was  also  a  decided  unwillingness 
to  repeal  the  law,  and  thus  acknowledge  that  the  proceedings  against  the 
obnoxious  sect  had  been  unjustifiable.  While  the  old  law  was  suffered 
to  remain  nominally  in  force,  another  was  passed  inflicting  other  severe 
punishments,  such  as  whipping  "to  the  borders  of  the  jurisdiction;" 
should  they  return  after  being  three  times  driven  out  in  this  manner, 
they  were  to  be  branded,  again  severely  whipped,  and  sent  away.  If 
they  returned  after  this,  they  were  then  to  be  liable  to  execution  under 
the  previous  law.  Happily,  the  branding  and  the  hanging  were  never 
incurred,  even  by  the  most  persistent  Quakers.  . 

"  Whipping  at  the  cart's  tail "  was  one  of  the  punishments  of  that 
time,  brought  by  the  colonists  from  England,  where  it  was  frequently 
resorted  to.  A  number  of  the  Quakers  were  punished  in  this  manner, 
being  "  stripped  from  the  girdle  upwards."  Peter  Peirson  and  Judah 
Brown  were  thus  whipped,  "with  twenty  cruel  stripes,  through  the 
streets  of  Boston."  In  obedience  to  the  sentence  of  the  court,  they 


H 
to 
~H 

K 

4 
o 

w 

K 
h 


WHIPPING  AT  THE   CART'S   TAIL. 


365 


were  tied  to  the  cart's  tail,  and  whipped  with  twenty  stripes  through 
Boston,  then  delivered  to  the  constable  in  Roxbury,  and  there  whipped 
with  ten  stripes,  and  then  carried  to  Dedham,  where,  with  ten  more 
stripes,  they  were  driven  out  "  into  the  wilderness."  John  Chamberlain 
and  George  Wilson,  inhabitants  of  Boston,  suffered  in  a  like  manner, 
and  the  punishment  "  was  cruelly  executed,  especially  at  the  last  of  the 
three  towns,  where  the  executioner  had  provided  a  cruel  instrument,  with 
which  he  miserably  tore  their  flesh."  Nor  was  this  punishment  admin- 
istered to  men  only;  women  also  were  condemned  to  suffer  the  same 
penalty.  Sarah  Gibbens  and  Dorothy  Waugh,  coming  back  to  Boston 
after  being  once  sent  away,  "  were  imprisoned  three  days  without  food, 
and  then  whipped  with  a  threefold  knotted  whip  tearing  off  their  flesh." 
Others  suffered  in  a  similar  manner  in  various  parts  of  the  colony. 
Thirty-one,  in  all,  "received  six  hundred  and  fifty  stripes." 

The  contest  between  the  Puritan  rulers  and  the  Quakers  continued 
for  some  time;  but  though,  after  the  discontinuance  of  capital  punish- 
ment, the  actions  of  the  Quakers  for  a  time  were  more  absurd  and  offen- 
sive than  ever,  they  at  last  became-  more  rational,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  zeal  of  the  rulers  became  less  violent.  Massachusetts  enjoyed  the 
unenviable  distinction  of  persecuting  the  Quakers  most  severely,  but  in 
Plymouth  and  New  Haven  many  of  the  "  heretical  sect "  were  impris- 
oned, whipped,  and  banished.  "The  holy  tactics  of  the  civil  sword" 
were,  in  all  the  New  England  colonies  except  Rhode  Island,  resorted  to 
for  the  protection  of  religion. 


XLIII. 


THE    REGICIDES,  WHALLEY  AND   GOFFE. 


HE  vessel  which  in  1660  brought  to  Boston  intelligence 
of  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  in  England,  brought 
also,  as  passengers,  two  men  who  had  performed  prom- 
inent parts  in  the  eventful  drama  of  civil  war  in  the 
mother  country.  They  had  been  distinguished  officers  in 
Cromwell's  army,  had  proved  themselves  zealous  in  the 
cause  of  Independency  and  the  Commonwealth,  had  ren- 
dered brilliant  service  in  the  war,  and  had  sat  in  Parlia- 
ment. They  had,  moreover,  been  members  of  the  High  Court  of 
Justice  which  had  tried  and  condemned  Charles  I.,  and  had  signed  the 
death-warrant  of  that  monarch,  receiving  therefor  the  name  of  "  regi- 
cides." These  men  were  Edward  Whalley  and  William  Goffe,  the 
former  a  cousin  of  Cromwell  and  of  John  Hampden,  and  the  latter  the 
son-in-law  of  Whalley. 

When  Whalley  and  Goffe  left  England,  it  was  uncertain  what  would 
be  the  fate  of  the  regicides,  but  there  were  whisperings  in  the  air  that 
the  promised  amnesty  would  surely  not  be  extended  to  them,  and  they 
prudently  sought  safety  while  there  was  yet  a  chance  to  escape.  The 
New  England  colonies  had  taken  no  decided  stand  in  the  contest  be- 
tween king  and  parliament,  but  had  wisely  sought  only  to  manage  their 
own  affairs  independently,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  mother  country. 
They  had  been  loyal  to  the  monarchy  if  they  did  not  love  the  king,  and 
they  had  recognized  the  Protector  as  the  head  of  the  Commonwealth, 
with  which,  probably,  a  majority  of  the  people  heartily  sympathized; 

366 


THEIR  RECEPTION  AT  BOSTON.  367 

but  they  had  made  no  demonstration  which  could  make  them  offensive 
to  either  party.  When  the  monarchy  was  re-established,  they  were  in  a 
position  to  renew  their  allegiance  to  it  as  the  de  facto  government,  with- 
out any  violent  change  of  opinion.  Massachusetts  early  sought  to  secure 
herself  against  any  unfriendly  action  on  the  part  of  Charles  II.,  and  sent 
an  address  avowing  allegiance  to  the  new  king.  Connecticut  soon  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  the  older  and  more  important  colony;  but  Plym- 
outh and  New  Haven  were  more  tardy,  their  conduct  being  less  politic, 
if  their  sympathy  with  the  Commonwealth  was  not  more  hearty.  When 
the  regicides  arrived  in  Boston,  they  did  not  come  as  fugitives  from 
justice,  or  from  the  new  king's  vengeance;  and,  as  distinguished  leaders 
under  Cromwell,  and  intimate  with  the  best  friends  of  the  colony,  they 
were  cordially  welcomed  by  Governor  Endicot  and  the  leading  men  of 
Massachusetts.  They  took  up  their  abode  at  Cambridge,  and  for  some 
months  appeared  freely  in  public,  attending  church  and  private  religious 
meetings,  and  they  were  everywhere  received  with  respect,  and  regarded 
as  persons  of  honorable  distinction,  being  known  by  old  and  young  as 
the  "colonels." 

But  at  length  news  came  that  all  the  regicides,  or  members  of  the 
High  Court  of  Justice,  were  excluded  from  the  act  of  indemnity,  and 
were  to  be  pursued  by  royal  vengeance.  It  also  became  known  that 
ardent  royalists  had  reported  to  the  government  that  Whalley  and  Goffe 
were  in  Boston  and  had  been  received  with  a  cordial  welcome;  that 
Governor  Endicot  had  "  embraced  them,  and  "wished  more  such  good 
men  as  they  would  come  over."  Governor  Endicot's  friendly  feelings 
towards  the  regicides  probably  were  not  changed  by  this  intelligence, 
but  prudence  dictated  a  change  of  conduct,  and  he  treated  them  with 
coldness,  and  his  example  was  generally  followed  by  the  magistrates. 
But  the  "  colonels  "  had  many  friends  among  the  leading  colonists,  who 
were  ready  to  protect  them,  and  they  still  remained  in  safety.  Governor 
Endicot  at  length  called  the  magistrates  together,  and  asked  their  advice 
as  to  his  duty  to  arrest  the  refugees.  The  magistrates  refused  to  approve 
of  arrest.  Meanwhile  friends  were  making  arrangements  for  their  de- 
parture, and,  doubtless  with  the  secret  approval  of  the  governor,  they 
set  out  for  New  Haven. 

After  a  weary  journey  through  the  wilderness,  they  arrived  at  New 


368  THE  REGICIDES,   WHALLET  AND  GOFFE. 

Haven  and  received  a  cordial  welcome  from  Mr.  Davenport,  the  minister 
of  that  place,  who  was  a  hearty  sympathizer  with  them.  Here  for  a 
short  time  they  moved  about  without  concealment,  and  were  received 
with  every  token  of  respect.  But  they  had  been  in  New  Haven  scarcely 
three  weeks  when  news  came  from  Boston  that  a  royal  proclamation  for 
their  arrest  had  arrived.  Lest  their  kind  host  should  be  involved  in 
trouble  if  they  publicly  remained  under  his  roof,  they  went  to  Milford, 
as  if  on  their  way  to  the  Dutch  settlement  of  New  Amsterdam.  At 
that  place  they  took  care  to  be  known;  but  the  next  night  they  returned 
secretly  to  New  Haven,  where  their  stanch  friend,  Mr.  Davenport,  again 
received  them  into  his  house,  and  concealed  them  in  an  apartment  in  his 
cellar. 

Meanwhile  the  king,  apprised  that  the  two  regicides  had  repeatedly 
been  seen  in  Boston,  sent  a  peremptory  order  to  the  colonial  governments 
for  their  apprehension.  This  order  came  first  to  Governor  Endicot,  and, 
knowing  that  the  refugees  were  beyond  his  jurisdiction,  he  made  a  show 
of  earnestness  in  endeavoring  to  obey  the  order.  Two  young  men, 
Kellond  and  Kirk,  prompted  as  much  by  the  hope  of  a  liberal  reward 
as  by  their  ardent  loyalty,  sought  and  obtained  a  commission  to  pros- 
ecute the  search  for  the  fugitives  in  Massachusetts,  and  letters  to  the 
governors  of  the  other  colonies  commending  their  undertaking.  This 
step  of  the  governor  was  strongly  condemned  by  some  of  the  magis- 
trates and  deputies,  who  complained  that  he  had  assumed  too  much 
authority  in  issuing  such  a  commission  without  the  assent  of  the 
magistrates.  But  the  governor  doubtless  thought  that  these  strangers  to 
the  country  and  the  habits  of  the  people  would  be  able  to  accomplish 
precious  little. 

After  searching  a  while  about  Boston  and  other  towns  in  Massachu- 
setts, Kellond  and  Kirk  came  to  the  conclusion,  or  were  informed,  that 
the  colonels  had  gone  to  Connecticut;  and  thither  they  hastened.  At 
Hartford  they  delivered  Endicot's  letter  to  the  younger  Winthrop,  who 
was  then  governor  of  the  Connecticut  colony.  Whatever  may  have 
been  Winthrop's  feelings  towards  the  regicides,  he  informed  the  mes- 
sengers that  the  colonels  had  some  time  before  passed  through  Hartford 
on  their  way  to  New  Haven.  The  pursuers,  encouraged  by  this  infor- 
mation that  they  had  struck  the  trail  of  the  fugitives,  hastened  on  to  the 


THE  PURSUERS  DELATED. 


369 


other  colony.  They  went  first  to  Guilford,  the  residence  of  Deputy- 
Governor  Leete,  who  was  the  acting  governor  of  the  colony.  When 
they  presented  their  letters  to  the  deputy-governor,  there  were  several 
other  persons  present,  and  after  seeing  trie  import  of  the  papers,  he  com- 
menced reading  them  aloud,  with  the  intent,  doubtless,  that  the  character 
of  his  visitors  should  be  known.  This  was  by  no  means  agreeable  to 
the  messengers,  who  rightly  conceived  that  secrecy  was  necessary  to 
success,  and  they  told  the  governor  that  "  it  was  convenient  to  be  more 
private  in  such  concernments."  While  Leete  was  little  disposed  to  aid 
these  zealous  pursuers,  there  were  those,  even  in  the  New  Haven  col- 
ony, who  were  more  loyal  to  the  new  king,  and,  as  they  left  the  deputy- 
governor's  house,  they  were  told  that  the  regicides  were  secreted  at 
Minister  Davenport's  house  in  New  Haven,  and  that  "  Deputy  Leete 
knew  as  much." 

More  surely  on  the  scent  now,  the  messengers  demanded  of  the  dep- 
uty-governor power  to  search  for  and  apprehend  the  fugitives;  but  he 
refused  to  give  any  such  power,  or  to  allow  them  to  call  upon  others 
to  apprehend,  which  would  be  giving  them  the  authority  of  magistrates. 
In  short,  he  would  do  nothing  without  consulting  the  magistrates  at  New 
Haven.  It  was  Saturday  afternoon,  the  time  of  preparation  for  the  Sab- 
bath, and  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  chief  magistrate  should  set 
so  wicked  an  example  as  setting  out  on  a  journey  at  that  time.  The 
messengers  then  asked  for  horses,  but  he  would  not  in  that  way  abet  the 
violation  of  civil  law  and  Mosaic  commandment.  So  the  impatient  pur- 
suers were  obliged  to  stay  at  Guilford  over  Sunday,  charing  under  their 
forced  delay.  But  while  it  was  wicked  for  a  Christian  to  violate  the 
Sabbath,  it  was  not,  perhaps,  so  serious  an  offence  in  an  Indian;  and  it 
so  happened  that  an  Indian  left  Guilford  that  Saturday  night,  and  sped 
to  New  Haven. 

Early  Monday  morning,  the  disgusted  royalists  sought  to  make  an 
early  start,  but  while  their  horses  were  prepared  with  many  vexatious 
delays,  they  had  the  mortification  to  hear  another  horseman  gallop  out 
of  the  little  village  in  the  direction  of  New  Haven.  When  they  arrived 
at  New  Haven,  they  were  obliged  to  wait  for  the  more  deliberate  move- 
ments of  the  deputy-governor,  whose  dignity  did  not  admit  of  precipitate 
haste  on  his  journey.  They  at  last  were  able  to  meet  that  dignitary  at 

NO.  x.  47 


370  THE  REGICIDES,    WHALLET  AND   GOFFE. 

the  state  or  court  house,  and  represented  to  him  that  they  had  cause  to 
believe  that  the  regicides  were  concealed  in  the  town,  and  they  required 
his  aid  for  their  apprehension.  The  deputy-governor  replied  that  he  did 
not  believe  they  were  so  concealed,  and  to  their  request  that  he  would 
empower  them  to  arrest  the  fugitives,  he  replied  that  he  could  not  make 
them  magistrates.  Leete  was  evidently  determined  to  afford  them  no 
aid  in  their  errand,  and  the  pursuers  began  to  remonstrate  with  him,  and 
charged  him  with  being  willing  the  fugitives  should  escape.  There- 
upon Leete  agreed  to  consult  the  magistrates,  which  he  did  so  thor- 
oughly that  "  they  were  together  five  or  six  hours,"  and  then  they 
declared  they  could  not  do  anything  until  they  had  called  the  General 
Court  together. 

Completely  balked  in  their  attempts  to  obtain  the  assistance  they 
required,  the  pursuers  became  indignant,  and  asked  the  deputy-governor 
"  whether  he  would  honor  and  obey  the  king  or  no  in  this  affair."  To 
which  Leete  replied  humbly,  "  We  honor  his  majesty,  but  we  have 
tender  consciences."  The  deputy-governor  indeed  disguised  his  purpose 
of  aiding  the  fugitives  rather  than  their  pursuers  under  a  semblance  of 
simplicity  or  stolidity.  Calling  in  the  evening  after  these  conferences  at 
the  little  inn  \vhere  Kellond  and  Kirk  lodged,  he  said  to  the  disappointed 
royalists  that  "he  wished  he  had  been  a  plowman,  and  never  been  in 
office,  since  he  found  it  so  weighty."  Disgusted  with  the  New  Haven 
rulers,  the  messengers  attempted  to  bribe  the  people  by  the  offer  of  large 
rewards,  and  were  at  a  loss  what  next  to  do,  when  they  received  some 
false  information,  which  induced  them  to  set  off  in  haste  for  the  Dutch 
settlement  of  New  Netherlands.  They  did  not  find  the  fugitives,  but 
the  Dutch  governor  promised,  if  the  colonels  came  within  his  jurisdic- 
tion, they  should  not  escape.  Disappointed  at  the  failure  of  their  enter- 
prise, from  which  they  had  anticipated  a  great  reward,  Kellond  and  Kirk 
returned  to  Boston  by  water. 

While  the  zealous  royalists  were  making  their  fruitless  efforts  to  dis- 
cover the  regicides,  the  latter  were  shielded  with  equal  zeal  by  their 
friends.  They  were  apprised  of  their  danger  before  Kellond  and  Kirk 
left  Boston,  and  secretly  removed  from  Mr.  Davenport's  house,  where  it 
was  probable  the)'  would  first  be  sought,  to  that  of  William  Jones,  whose 
father  had  been  executed  as  a  regicide.  While  Deputy-Governor  Leete 


THE   JUDGES'   CAVE.  37 T 

and  the  magistrates  were  foiling  the  pursuers  by  their  long  debate,  the 
fugitives  were  removed  to  a  mill  two  miles  from  New  Haven,  where 
they  remained  concealed  two  days  and  nights.  Their  movements  were 
conducted  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  for  there  was  danger  that  the  large 
reward  offered  might  tempt  some  among  the  colonists  to  betray  them, 
should  their  hiding-places  be  known.  Nor  was  it  safe,  on  this  account, 
to  remain  long  in  one  spot.  From  the  mill  they  withdrew  three  miles 
farther  from  the  town,  to  a  place  called  "  Hatchet  Harbor,"  where  they 
lay  hid  two  nights  more. 

Their  friends  now  felt  that  they  must  have  a  more  secure  place  of 
refuge,  and  one  was  found,  somewhat  nearer  to  New  Haven  than  their 
last  hiding-place,  but  more  retired  and  secure  against  the  intrusion  of 
strangers.  This  was  on  the  summit  of  West  Rock,  about  half  a  mile 
from  its  southern  extremity.  Nature  had  here  provided  a  retreat  for 
them  in  the  shape  of  a  cave,  or  enclosure  formed  by  rough  columns  of 
trap  rock  piled  to  a  considerable  height  around  a  small  space,  within 
which  two  or  three  persons  could  find  shelter  and  room  for  their  beds. 
It  was  surrounded  by  trees,  and  when  the  apertures  between  the  stones 
were  closed  with  branches,  the  interior  was  completely  hidden  from  the 
sight  of  any  adventurous  wanderer  who  might  pass  that  way.  While 
thus  hidden,  the  inmates  of  this  retreat  could  easily  see  any  persons 
approaching,  some  distance  away,  and  could  escape  by  flight  without 
being  seen.  Hither  Whalley  and  GofFe  came  with  great  secrecy,  and 
took  up  their  abode  in  this  comfortless  but  safe  retreat,  which  has  since 
been  known  as  "  The  Judges'  Cave."  They  were  provided  with  bedding, 
and  their  food  was  furnished  by  Mr.  Sperry,  who  lived  about  a  mile 
away.  Sperry  himself  generally  carried  the  food  to  them,  but  sometimes 
it  was  sent  by  his  son,  with  directions  to  leave  it  on  a  certain  stump. 
The  youth  was  naturally  inquisitive  as  to  the  purpose  of  leaving  food  in 
this  mysterious  manner  in  the  woods,  and  his  father,  who  alone  of  the 
family  knew  the  secret,  told  him  it  was  for  some  woodcutters  at  work  in 
the  forest. 

While  hiding  in  the  cave  on  West  Rock,  Deputy-Governor  Leete, 
who  was  informed  of  their  retreat,  in  order  to  make  a  show  of  obedience 
to  the  royal  proclamation,  issued  his  warrant  for  a  search  for  them  in 
Milford.  Whatever  apparent  cause  there  may  have  been  for  seeking  the 


372  THE  REGICIDES,    WH ALLEY  AND   GOFFE. 

fugitives  there,  it  served  the  purpose  of  directing  attention  away  from 
their  real  place  of  concealment. 

Though  the  New  Haven  rulers,  and  probably  a  large  part  of  the 
people,  under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Davenport,  were  ready  to  protect  the 
regicides,  there  were  some  whose  loyalty  to  the  king  was  too  great  to 
allow  them  to  "  aid  and  abet  the  traitors,"  or  countenance  the  aid  afforded 
by  others.  Minister  Davenport,  who  had  so  earnestly  befriended  the 
regicides,  who  had  preached  a  sermon  which  was  supposed  to  be  in- 
tended to  instruct  the  people  to  harbor  and  defend  them,  and  who  was 
believed  by  some  to  still  have  them  concealed  in  his  house,  was  in  dan- 
ger of  being  called  to  account  for  these  offences.  To  relieve  a  friend 
who  had  served  them  so  devotedly,  from  the  charge  of  still  harboring 
them,  Whalley  and  Goffe  left  their  hiding-place  for  a  time,  and  appeared 
at  New  Haven  and  elsewhere.  They  then  returned  to  their  cave,  and 
for  two  months  more  remained  in  concealment. 

Among  the  traditions  concerning  the  regicides  is  one,  that  in  order 
to  relieve  their  friend,  Mr.  Davenport,  from  danger,  they  entered  into 
negotiations  with  Deputy-Governor  Leete,  with  a  view  to  surrender 
themselves;  and  that  pending  the  negotiations  they  were  concealed  in 
a  cellar  in  Guilford,  and  received  their  food  from  the  deputy-governor's 
own  table.  If  this  be  true,  their  friends,  including  Leete,  were  more 
careful  of  their  safety  than  they  were  themselves. 

West  Rock,  in  those  early  days,  was  the  "haunt  of  wild  beasts;" 
and  one  night,  as  the  judges  lay  at  rest  in  their  cave,  they  saw  the 
blazing  eyes  of  a  panther  peering  in  at  one  of  the  openings  to  their 
retreat.  Although  they  had  faced  danger  on  the  battle-field  without 
trepidation,  they  were  so  alarmed  by  this  nocturnal  visitor,  to  resist 
which  they  had  no  weapons,  that  they  fled  down  the  mountain  to 
Sperry's  house.  They  then  sought  a  less  dangerous  refuge,  and  went 
to  Milford,  where  for  two  years  they  lived  in  complete  secrecy  in  the 
house  of  a  Mr.  Tompkins.  Their  presence  during  this  period  was 
unknown  to  the  nearest  neighbors,  and  they  were  never  seen  even  by 
the  inmates  of  the  house,  except  Tompkins.  While  secreted  here,  it  is 
said,  they  heard  a  girl,  who  was  one  of  the  family,  sing  a  famous  cav- 
alier ballad  which  ridiculed  and  railed  at  the  regicides.  It  so  amused 
the  concealed  listeners  that  they  often  requested  Mr.  Tompkins  to  have 


THEIR  FINAL  RETREAT  AT  HADLET. 


373 


it  sung,  the  singer  being  entirely  ignorant  of  the  interested  parties  for 
whose  benefit  she  repeated  the  ludicrous  but  spiteful  story. 

The  lapse  of  two  years,  during  which  they  were  not  seen  and  their 
existence  was  known  only  to  a  few  faithful  friends,  gave  time  for  all 
excitement  concerning  the  fugitive  judges  to  subside,  and  they  then 
ventured  out  of  their  retirement,  and  to  meet  a  few  friends  upon  whose 
fidelity  they  could  rely.  But  soon  they  were  threatened  with  a  new 
danger.  Some  royal  commissioners  had  arrived  at  Boston,  vested  with  ex- 
traordinary powers  for  various  purposes,  and  it  was  supposed  that  among 
other  duties  they  would  be  charged  to  make  a  new  and  more  thorough 
search  for  the  regicides.  Leaving  Milford,  they  again  withdrew  to  the 
cave  on  West  Rock;  but  the  Indians  had  discovered  that  it  had  been 
occupied,  and  it  was  no  longer  a  safe  retreat.  To  remain  in  Con- 
necticut, where  it  was  known  they  had  been  so  long  harbored,  was  to 
run  the  risk  of  capture,  and  to  endanger  the  safety  of  the  friends  who 
had  served  them  so  faithfully.  Far  up  the  Connecticut  valley  a  settle- 
ment had  been  made  at  Hadley,  in  Massachusetts,  the  most  remote 
frontier  of  the  colony.  Thither  it  was  deemed  prudent  for  the  out- 
lawed men  to  go,  and,  bidding  their  friends  farewell,  they  started  on 
their  journey.  Venturing  no  longer  to  show  themselves  to  any  one  on 
the  way,  lest  the  direction  of  their  flight  might  be  known,  they  travelled 
only  at  night  till  they  were  beyond  the  settlements.  Arriving  at  Hadley, 
they  were  received  into  the  house  of  Mr.  Russell,  where  a  secret  apart- 
ment had  been  prepared  for  them,  and  entering  that,  they  were  never 
seen  except  by  their  faithful  host:  never,  unless,  years  afterwards,  a 
strange  apparition  at  a  moment  of  imminent  danger  was  no  ghostly 
visitor,  but  one  of  the  regicide  judges  still  in  the  flesh. 

Whalley  lived  ten  years  in  this  remote  hiding-place,  growing  infirm 
in  body  and  declining  into  "second  childhood."  Goffe  lived  there  at 
least  five  years  later,  but  how  much  longer,  and  what  ultimately  became 
of  him,  is  a  mystery.  An  officious  loyalist,  in  1678,  proposed  a  plan  for 
capturing  him  and  carrying  him  to  New  York  to  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 
He  stated  under  oath  that  Joseph  Bull,  of  Hartford,  had  for  several  years 
privately  kept  Colonel  Gofte  at  his  house  under  the  name  of  Cooke.  This 
man  also  swore  that  his  plan  for  seizing  Goffe  was  frustrated  by  two 
magistrates  to  whom  it  was  divulged  by  a  confederate.  Whether  this  be 


THE  REGICIDES,   WHALLET  AND   GOFFE. 

true  or  not,  it  is  probable  that  Goffe  left  Hadley;  but  where  he  con- 
cealed himself,  and  where  he  died,  is  not  known. 

During  the  long  period  of  the  refugees'  residence  in  New  England, 
Goffe  was  able  occasionally  to  correspond  with  his  wife,  who  remained 
in  England.  They  assumed  the  name  of  Goldsmith,  and  wrote  as  mother 
and  son.  The  letters  of  Mrs.  Goffe  exhibit  the  most  devoted  attach- 
ment to  her  husband,  as  well  as  religious  faith  and  patience  amid  the 
dangers  that  surrounded  her  and  her  children. 

There  have  been  many  traditions  concerning  the  narrow  escape  of 
the  regicides  from  their  pursuers,  some  of  which,  however,  are  incon- 
sistent with  well-authenticated  facts,  while  others  are  only  possible  and 
not  very  probable.  Among  others  is  one  that  the  day  Kellond  and 
Kirk  were  expected,  the  judges  walked  out  on  the  road  by  which  the 
pursuers  must  come;  that  when  some  distance  from  the  settlement  they 
were  overtaken  by  the  sheriff,  who  had  a  warrant  for  their  apprehension, 
but  that  the  judges  resisted  his  attempt  to  take  them,  and,  planting 
themselves  behind  a  tree,  defended  themselves  with  their  cudgels,  and 
compelled  the  officer  to  retire  to  seek  assistance.  As  Deputy-Governor 
Leete  had  not  arrived  at  New  Haven,  and  both  he  and  the  magistrates 
were  disposed  to  obstruct  the  pursuers  rather  than  assist  them,  there 
was  no  one  to  issue  a  warrant,  and  under  the  circumstances  the  sheriff 
would  probably  have  been  little  disposed  to  act  without  one. 

Akin  to  this  is  another  tradition,  which  is  only  a  little  less  improb- 
able, that  they  concealed  themselves  under  a  bridge  over  which  the 
pursuers  passed  on  their  way  into  the  town.  But  it  is  said  that  the 
events  given  in  these  traditions  were  only  the  carrying  out  of  a  pre- 
concerted plan  to  show  that  the  magistrates  of  New  Haven  had  used 
their  endeavors  to  apprehend  the  fugitives  before  the  arrival  of  the 
pursuers.  This  may  be  true,  but  is  hardly  characteristic. 

It  is  also  said  that  when  the  pursuers  were  searching  the  town,  the 
judges,  in  changing  their  hiding-places,  happened,  by  accident  or  design, 
at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Eyers,  a  respectable  lady,  who,  seeing  the  pursuers 
coming,  ushered  her  guests  out  at  the  back  door;  and  that  after  walking 
a  few  steps  they  returned,  and  were  concealed  in  one  of  the  good  lady's 
apartments,  when  the  pursuers  entered  the  house.  When  the  latter  in- 
quired whether  the  regicides  were  at  her  house,  she  replied  that  they 


COLONEL    JOHN  DIXWELL.  375 

had  been  there,  but  were  just  gone  away,  and  pointed  out  the  course 
they  took  into  the  woods.  "  By  her  polite  and  artful  address,  she 
diverted  their  attention  from  the  house,  and  putting  them  upon  a  false 
scent,  thereby  secured  her  friends."  As  Kellond  and  Kirk  had  no  au- 
thority to  make  a  search  for  the  regicides,  and  were  most  of  the  time 
engaged  in  the  attempt  to  obtain  such  authority  or  aid  from  the  magis- 
trates, they  could  hardly  have  scoured  the  town  very  thoroughly  in  pur- 
suit of  the  fugitives.  If  they  went  about  without  a  warrant  making 
inquiries,  the  regicides  would  hardly  have  been  as  safe  flying  from  one 
hiding-place  to  another  as  if  they  remained  under  Minister  Davenport's 
hospitable  roof,  with  that  worthy  man  at  hand  to  defend  his  castle 
against  unauthorized  intruders. 

Tradition  tells  of  one  other  escape,  —  that  while  the  judges  were  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Richard  Sperry,  they  were  surprised  by  an  unexpected 
visit  from  their  pursuers,  who  were  seen  approaching  over  a  causeway 
across  a  morass.  The  judges  saw  their  enemies  when  several  rods  dis- 
tant, and  hurrying  from  the  house,  made  their  escape  to  the  mountain. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  disappointed  pursuers  may  have  gone  about 
to  find  some  trace  of  the  fugitives,  and  in  this  way  wandered  out  to 
Sperry's  retired  house,  when  the  regicides  were  on  the  way  to  West 
Rock;  but  many  a  fiction  is  preserved  by  tradition. 

One  other  of  the  judges  who  had  condemned  Charles  I.  —  Colonel 
John  Dixwell  —  escaped  to  America,  and  made  his  home  in  New  Haven. 
At  the  Restoration,  he  fled  from  England,  but  whither  was  not  known. 
He  came  to  New  England  some  years  after  Whalley  and  Goffe,  when 
several  of  the  judges  had  already  been  executed,  and  when  a  price  was 
set  upon  his  head.  It  was  therefore  necessary  for  him  to  observe  the 
greatest  secrecy  as  to  his  real  character.  He  visited  his  old  associates, 
Whalley  and  Goffe,  at  Hadley,  and  spent  some  time  in  that  place.  He 
then  took  up  his  residence  in  New  Haven,  under  the  assumed  name  of 
James  Davids,  and  was  known  only  to  a  very  few  friends,  whose  fidelity 
was  unimpeachable.  Among  these  were  Governor  Jones,  and  the  Rev. 
James  Pierpont,  the  successor  of  Davenport.  With  the  latter,  Dixwell 
became  very  intimate.  The  lot  on  which  stood  his  house  adjoined  that 
of  the  minister,  and  the  two  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  at  the  fence 
to  hold  long  confidential  interviews,  and  in  time  a  pathway  was  worn 


376 


THE  REGICIDES. 


on  either  side  between  the  house  and  the  place  of  frequent  meeting. 
Mrs.  Pierpont's  attention  was  attracted  to  this  path  which  her  husband 
so  often  trod,  and  seeing  that  he  went  to  meet  this  neighbor,  with  par- 
donable curiosity  she  asked  him  what  he  saw  in  that  old  man  that  was 
so  attractive.  "  He  is  a  very  wise  and  learned  man,"  was  the  answer 
she  received.  Not  to  his  wife  would  the  minister  reveal  the  secret. 

Dixwell  was  tall,  erect,  and  had  a  military  bearing;  and  when  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  was  in  New  Haven,  he  observed  at  church  this  man, 
whose  appearance  was  so  distinguished,  and  inquired  who  he  was,  and 
whence  he  came.  He  was  told  that  it  was  Mr.  Davids,  a  merchant  of 
New  Haven.  Andros,  who  had  been  trained  in  camp  and  court,  saw 
that  this  merchant  had  some  time  played  a  different  role,  and  declared 
in  a  positive  manner,  "  I  know  he  is  not  a  merchant."  These  words 
were  made  known  to  Dixwell,  who  had  reason  to  fear  that  the  haughty 
royalist  would  attempt  to  penetrate  the  secret  which  his  appearance  had 
half' betrayed,  and  he  took  good  care  not  to  be  seen  again -while  the 
governor-general  was  in  New  Haven.  But  he  was  never  identified  as 
one  of  the  regicides;  Colonel  Dixwell  had  disappeared  from  the  world, 
and  James  Davids  lived  quietly  at  New  Haven  to  an  advanced  age. 

In  the  old  burying-ground  at  New  Haven,  three  stones  are  said  to 
mark  the  graves  of  Whalley,  Goffe,  and  Dixwell,  but  it  is  doubtful  if 
their  remains  rest  there.  Near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  old 
house  in  Hadley  in  which  the  regicides  passed  so  many  years  was  torn 
down,  and  in  the  ground  under  the  cellar  were  found  the  bones  of  a 
large  man,  which  were  without  doubt  those  of  Whalley. 


XLIV. 

KING   PHILIP  AND   THE   COLONISTS. 


jio  R  nearly  forty  years  after  the  Pequot  war  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies  enjoyed  peace  with  the  native  tribes,  dis- 
turbed only  by  occasional  petty  disputes,  which  were 
usually  discreetly  managed  by  the  colonial  authorities, 
and  amicably  settled.  In  the  mean  time  the  settlements 
had  extended  inlandr  and  pioneers  from  the  seaboard  had 
established  themselves  on  the  Connecticut  River  at  Had- 
ley,  Northampton,  Hatfield,  Deerfield,  and  Northfield, 
besides  Springfield,  which  had  been  settled  when  other  parties  went  to 
Hartford.  The  towns  of  Lancaster  and  Marlborough  had  been  founded, 
and  there  were  a  few  settlers  at  Brookfield,  while  farther  east  were  the 
hamlets  of  Groton  and  Sudbury,  and  others  nearer  to  Boston.  Within 
the  Plymouth  colony,  settlements  had  extended  more  slowly;  but  Taun- 
ton,  Rehoboth,  Swansey,  and  other  towns  had  been  founded.  All  these 
interior  settlements  were  the  frontiers  of  civilized  life,  in  the  midst  of 
a  wilderness,  and  exposed  to  great  danger  in  case  of  hostilities  on  the 
part  of  the  natives.  In  Connecticut,  the  settlements  had  extended  chiefly 
along  the  valley  of  the  river  and  on  the  seaboard.  Between  them  and 
the  Massachusetts  towns  was  a  wilderness  inhabited  only  by  wandering 
bands  of  Indians  and  the  wild  animals  they  hunted. 

During   this  period   of  peace  there  were    some    political    events   of 
importance,  and  changes  in  the  condition  of  the  colonies  and  their  rela- 
tions to  the  mother  country,  or  rather  to  the  king,  which,  however,  it 
is  not  the  purpose   of  this  work  to  narrate  at  length.     Royal   commis- 
NO.  x.  48  377 


378  KING  PHILIP  AND  THE   COLONISTS. 

sioners  had  come  over  to  assert  the  authority  of  the  crown,  and  had 
met  with  a  sturdy  resistance  from  Massachusetts,  such  as  might  be 
anticipated  from  the  character  of  her  early  settlers  and  the  pertinacity 
with  which,  from  the  outset,  they  maintained  their  rights  and  practical 
independence.  Connecticut  more  readily  accepted  a  royal  charter  which 
incorporated  New  Haven  into  her  jurisdiction,  while  the  New  Haven 
people  very  reluctantly  suffered  themselves  thus  to  be  absorbed  into  a 
more  powerful  colony.  The  confederation  which  had  existed  prior  to 
this  consolidation  of  the  western  colonies  was  dissolved,  but  after  some 
fruitless  efforts  a  new  confederacy  was  formed  between  the  three  col- 
onies, Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  and  Connecticut.  Rhode  Island,  which 
was  the  refuge  of  all  sorts  of  schismatics  and  enthusiasts,  was  still  not 
admitted  to  union  with  the  more  sober  and  better-regulated  colonies. 

Meanwhile  the  Indians,  though  they  nominally  lost  something  of 
their  hunting-grounds  and  independence,  were  really  benefited  by  the 
advent  of  the  whites.  They  could  barter  their  surplus  of  corn  and  furs 
for  blankets,  knives,  and  tools,  as  well  as  trinkets,  and  they  were  relieved 
from  the  danger  of  famine,  which  their  wasteful  and  improvident  habits 
had  previously  not  infrequently  caused  during  the  long  winters.  The 
colonial  governments  had  cautiously  prohibited  the  sale  of  fire-arms  and 
ammunition  to  them,  but  they  were  surreptitiously  supplied  by  some  of 
the  more  reckless  or  less  discreet  settlers,  and  had  also  procured  the 
prohibited  weapons  from  the  Dutch  traders.  In  the  use  of  these  arms 
they  soon  became  expert,  finding  them  far  more  efficient  in  hunting 
game  than  their  rude  weapons  had  been.  They  in  the  same  degree 
became  more  formidable  to  the  whites  in  case  of  hostilities.  Three  or 
four  thousand  of  the  natives  had  become  "  praying  Indians,"  or  converts 
to  Christianity,  chiefly  among  those  who  dwelt  near  Boston  or  Plymouth. 
The  mass,  however,  were  still  unconverted  heathen,  and  the  more  numer- 
ous tribes  would  not  receive  any  missionaries. 

Samoset,  the  chief  of  the  Pokanokets,  who  had  made  a  treaty  of 
friendship  with  the  Pilgrims  soon  after  their  settlement  at  Plymouth, 
faithfully  observed  it  during  his  life.  When  the  aged  sachem  died  (in 
1660),  he  was  succeeded  by  his  sons,  Wamsutta  and  Metacomet,  who 
did  not  inherit  their  father's  good-will  towards  the  English.  Wamsutta 
desired  an  English  name  for  himself  and  his  brother,  and  the  court  at 


ALEXANDER  AND  PHILIP. 

Plymouth  willingly  complied  with  the  request,  selecting,  however,  two 
celebrated  heathen  names  rather  than  such  as  were  given  to  their  own 
children.  They  ordered  that  Wamsutta  should  be  called  Alexander, 
and  that  Metacomet  should  be  called  Philip. 

Having  acquired  his  famous  name,  Alexander  was  restless,  and 
apparently  anxious  to  achieve  something  worthy  of  it.  It  was  reported 
at  Plymouth  that  he  was  plotting  with  the  Narragansetts,  and  as  it  was 
the  policy  of  the  colonial  governments  to  encourage  jealousy  rather  than 
alliances  between  the  different  tribes,  these  movements  were  looked  upon 
with  disfavor.  Alexander  was  accordingly  summoned  to  Plymouth  to 
give  an  account  of  himself.  He  did  not  obey  the  first  summons,  but 
he  responded  to  a  more  urgent  one,  and,  coming  to  Plymouth,  made 
explanations  which  were  satisfactory.  Before  returning  he  was  taken 
sick  with  a  fever,  and  was  conveyed  home  by  water.  He  died  soon 
after  reaching  home  (1662),  and  Philip  became  the  sole  sachem  of  the 
Pokanokets. 

Philip  was  known  to  be  haughty  and  ambitious,  and  more  restless 
than  his  brother,  and  some  apprehension  was  felt  at  Plymouth  lest  he 
was  concerned  in  the  plot  with  which  Alexander  had  been  charged. 
He  too  was  summoned  to  Plymouth  to  answer  such  interrogations  as 
the  court  should  propose.  He  appeared,  and  denied  that  he  had  a  hand 
in  any  plot  against  the  English,  or  knew  of  any  such  conspiracy  against 
them.  He  acknowledged  himself  a  subject  of  the  king  of  England,  and 
promised  to  faithfully  observe  the  treaty  of  friendship  which  his  father 
had  so  long  ago  made  with  the  colonists. 

For  five  years  Philip  gave  the  whites  no  reason  to  doubt  his  fidelity 
to  his  promises.  Then  came  the  announcement,  by  one  of  his  own  tribe, 
that  he  had  openly  expressed  himself  as  ready  to  join  the  French  or 
Dutch  against  the  English.  Again  the  uneasy  sachem  was  summoned 
to  answer  for  his  alleged  false  conduct.  He  denied  the  charge,  and  de- 
clared it  was  a  calumny  of  Ninigret,  chief  of  the  Nyantics.  The  Indian 
who  had  been  the  informer  did  not  quail  before  his  sachem,  but  persisted 
in  the  charge,  naming  the  time  and  place  of  making  the  hostile  declara- 
tion and  the  parties  who  were  present.  Philip  as  boldly  persisted  in  his 
denial,  and  in  token  of  his  innocence  offered  to  surrender  the  arms  in 
the  possession  of  his  followers  —  an  offer  which  was  promptly  accepted.  . 


380  KING  PHILIP  AND  THE  COLONISTS. 

Philip  probably  repented  of  this  surrender;  for,  at  the  next  court  at 
Plymouth,  he  appeared,  and  renewing  his  protestations  of  innocence  of 
all  hostile  intent,  and  of  friendship  to  the  English,  he  lamented  the  with- 
drawal of  their  good  will  towards  himself.  The  wily  sachem  had  evi- 
dently studied  English  human  nature,  and  knew  how  to  reach  their 
generosity.  He  succeeded  so  far  in  persuading  the  Plymouth  magis- 
trates that  he  was  more  sinned  against  than  sinning,  that  they  were 
rather  disposed  to  sympathize  with  him.  While  they  "judged  it  better 
to  keep  a  watchful  eye  "  on  his  conduct,  they  determined  "  to  continue 
terms  of  love  and  amity  with  him,  unless  something  further  did  mani- 
festly appear."  The  result  of  the  conference  was,  that  the  arms  which 
had  been  surrendered  were  restored  to  him. 

Returning  to  his  home  at  Mount  Hope,  Philip  remained  quiet  for 
four  years  more,  when  it  was  reported  that  he  was  again  engaged  in 
warlike  movements,  mustering  his  followers,  and  assuming  a  threatening 
attitude  towards  the  white  settlers  nearest  to  his  domain.  The  Plymouth 
government  sent  commissioners,  accompanied  by  a  military  force,  to 
Taunton,  and  desired  Philip  to  meet  them  there.  He  was  tardy  in 
making  his  appearance,  and  when  he  did  come  it  was  with  a  band  of 
armed  followers.  He  was  reluctant,  too,  to  come  to  a  conference,  as  if 
he  feared  some  treachery,  and  some  of  the  English  were  impatient  to 
march  out  and  settle  all  their  troubles  with  the  uneasy  sachem  by  an 
attack  on  him.  Such  counsels  did  not  prevail,  but  some  men  from  Bos- 
ton who  were  present  acted  as  mediators,  and  a  conference  was  at  last 
held.  The  result  was,  Philip  again  renewed  "  his  covenant  with  his 
ancient  friends,"  and  engaged  to  deliver  up  "  to  the  government  of  New 
Plymouth  all  his  English  arms,  to  be  kept  by  them  for  their  security  so 
long  as  they  should  see  reason."  Under  this  agreement,  Philip  surren- 
dered about  seventy  guns,  which  was  a  great  loss  to  him;  but  this  was 
not  a  fulfilment  of  his  agreement,  for  it  was  soon  found  that  a  number 
of  guns  which  should  have  been  delivered  up  were  secretly  conveyed 
away,,  and  doubtless  there  were  others  in  the  hands  of  his  tribe. 

The  proud  sachem  was  dissatisfied  with  himself  for  yielding  so 
readily  to  the  demands  of  the  whites,  and  when  he  returned  to  his  home 
he  refused  to  deliver  up  any  more  arms,  or  to  offer  any  excuse  for  the 
neglect.  From  the  first  he  had  probably  contemplated  hostilities  when 


PHILIP  HUMBLES  HIMSELF.  38l 

he  should  be  prepared,  notwithstanding  his  protestations.  Whether  he 
had  sent  emissaries  to  other  tribes  or  not,  his  temper  was  undoubtedly 
known  to  them,  and  restless  Indians,  who  were  anxious  to  display  their 
prowess,  found  their  way  to  his  part  of  the  country,  and  were  ready  to 
join  in  any  demonstration  against  the  whites.  Intelligence  was  again 
brought  to  Plymouth  that  his  conduct  and  language  were  threatening, 
and  the  council  of  war  which  the  magistrates  had  appointed  determined 
that  it  was  necessary  to  require  him  to  come  and  clear  himself,  and  if  he 
refused  to  come,  that  he  should  be  reduced  by  force.  But  before 
resorting  to  war,  it  was  deemed  prudent  to  lay  the  matter  before  the 
neighboring  colonies. 

Philip  did  not  make  his  appearance  at  the  time  appointed,  but  en- 
deavored, by  counter  complaints  to  some  of  the  leading  men  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, to  secure  their  good  offices,  and  he  succeeded  in  making 
them  believe  that  his  offence  was  not  so  serious  as  the  Plymouth  gov- 
ernment represented.  They  offered  their  services  to  settle  the  quarrel, 
and  three  prominent  gentlemen  repaired  to  Plymouth  for  that  purpose. 
There  they  were  joined  by  Governor  Winthrop  of  Connecticut,  and  a 
council  was  held,  at  which  Philip  was  present  and  had  a  fair  opportu- 
nity to  defend  himself.  The  council  determined  that  he  "  had  done  a 
great  deal  of  wrong,"  and  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  acknowledge 
his  fault  and  make  reparation.  He  was  given  to  understand  that  if  he 
did  not  "humble  himself"  to  the  magistrates  of  Plymouth,  and  amend 
his  ways,  he  must  expect  punishment.  The  haughty  sachem  was  at 
first  indisposed  to  agree  to  the  terms  dictated;  but  at  last  he  and  five 
of  his  subordinate  chiefs  signed  an  instrument  in  which  they  acknowl- 
edged themselves  as  subject  to  the  king  of  England,  and  the  government 
of  Plymouth  and  its  laws.  In  token  of  their  allegiance,  they  agreed  to 
pay  a  yearly  tribute  of  five  wolves'  heads,  and  an  indemnity  of  a  hun- 
dred pounds  for  the  expenses  they  had  occasioned.  They  also  made 
further  engagements  of  submission  to  the  Plymouth  government. 

For  three  years  Philip  observed  the  obligations  of  this  treaty,  and 
the  quiet  of  the  colony  was  undisturbed.  But  meanwhile  the  humilia- 
tion he  had  suffered  rankled  in  his  breast.  Was  he  not  a  sachem? 
Why  should  he  then  acknowledge  allegiance  to  an  unknown  king  across 
the  sea?  And  who  were  these  arrogant  whites,  whom  his  father  had 


382  KING  PHILIP  AND  THE  COLONISTS. 

unwisely  encouraged,  that  they  should  assert  authority  over  him  and 
his  people?  Intruders  and  spoilers  in  the  land  of  his  fathers,  they  ought 
to  be  exterminated,  and  the  lost  hunting-grounds  be  restored  to  their 
original  owners.  But  Philip  was  politic  as  well  as  revengeful,  and  he 
knew  he  was  not  prepared  to  cope  with  his  civilized  adversary.  Only 
by  a  slow  process  could  he  replace  the  arms  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived,  and  without  fire-arms  and  ammunition  he  could  not  hope  to 
accomplish  anything.  At  the  end  of  three  years  (in  1674)  he  had 
increased  his  arms,  and  began  to  exhibit  again  a  hostile  temper. 

Sausaman,  an  Indian  who  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge,  and  was 
a  schoolmaster  and  a  preacher,  at  one  time  having  fled  from  Natick  on 
account  of  some  misconduct,  took  refuge  with  the  Pokanokets.  He 
had  now  come  on  a  visit  to  his  old  friends,  and,  seeing  the  temper  of 
Philip,  and  that  he  was  exerting  himself  "  to  engage  all  the  sachems 
round  about  in  a  war,"  he  communicated  the  intelligence  to  the  governor 
of  Plymouth,  under  a  promise  that  the  source  of  the  information  should 
remain  a  secret.  Philip  was  at  this  time  on  the  hunting-grounds  he 
frequented  near  Middleborough,  and  in  some  way  he  learned  that  the 
Plymouth  authorities  had  heard  of  his  hostile  conduct.  Without  waiting 
to  be  summoned,  he  went  to  Plymouth  and  protested  his  innocence. 
The  magistrates,  while  having  little  faith  in  his  friendly  professions,  had 
little  evidence  to  the  contrary,  and  contented  themselves  by  warning 
him  that  if  they  heard  anything  further  of  his  offensive  conduct,  they 
might  again  require  a  surrender  of  his  arms. 

A  few  days  after  this  Sausaman  disappeared,  and  his  hat  and  gun 
were  found  on  the  ice  of  a  pond  near  Middleborough.  An  investiga- 
tion proved  that  he  had  been  murdered  and  thrust  through  the  ice. 
The  perpetrators  of  the  crime  —  three  Indians  —  were  soon  discovered, 
and  brought  to  trial  at  Plymouth.  A  jury,  composed  in  part  of  Indians, 
found  them  guilty,  and  they  were  sentenced  to  death,  and  executed. 
Meanwhile  Philip,  who  had  probably  instigated  the  murder,  and  expected 
to  be  called  to  account  for  it,  seemed  determined  not  to  obey  any  sum- 
mons, but  kept  his  men  in  arms,  ready  to  resist  if  an  attempt  was  made 
to  arrest  him.  Hoping  that  the  ill-natured  chief  would  soon  become 
more  quiet  if  let  alone,  the  Plymouth  government  took  no  notice  of 
his  conduct,  except  to  order  a  military  watch  in  the  several  towns. 


THE  FINAL   RESOLUTION. 


383 


Soon,  however,  more  alarming  news  came  from  Swansey,  which 
was  the  nearest  town  to  Philip's  domain.  He  kept  his  men  constantly 
under  arms,  and  had  been  joined  by  many  strange  Indians.  The  squaws 
and  children  had  been  sent  to  Narragansett,  and  the  young  men  were 
fierce  for  war.  Drums  were  beat  and  guns  were  fired  at  night,  and 
preparations  for  mischief  were  evidently  afoot.  The  magistrates  again 
tried  moderation,  and  wrote  a  friendly  letter  to  Philip,  "  advising  him  to 
dismiss  his  strange  Indians,  and  command  his  own  men  to  fall  quietly 
to  their  business."  The  messenger  who  carried  this  letter  was  conducted 
to  Philip's  cabin  without  the  cordial  demonstrations  of  good  will  which 
during  Massasoit's  time  usually  awaited  the  visitor  from  Plymouth. 
Philip  himself,  as  usual,  received  him  with  dignity,  and  listened  quietly 
to  the  reading  of  the  letter.  When  it  was  finished  he  did  not,  as  previ- 
ously, protest  his  innocence  of  all  evil  intentions,  but  signifying  that  he 
heard  the  message,  gave  its  bearer  to  understand  that  he  might  depart 
without  any  reply.  In  addition  to  this  cool  dismission,  the  messenger 
saw  enough  to  confirm  the  reports  which  had  reached  Plymouth;  most 
of  the  Indians  were  proudly  displaying  their  guns,  and  all  their  actions 
indicated  an  unusual  condition  of  affairs.  Philip  had  determined  to 
make  no  more  professions  of  friendship,  but  to  act  as  his  hostile 
temper  dictated.  He  had  brooded  long  over  his  humiliations  and 
wrongs,  and  he  resolved  to  suffer  them  no  longer. 


XLV. 


KING    PHILIP'S   WAR. 


NE  summer  morning  in  1675,  the  good  people  of  Swan- 
sey, —  the  nearest  settlement  to  Philip's  territory,  —  after 
the  Puritan  custom,  had  gone  to  their  little  "  meeting- 
house "  to  attend  the  Sabbath  services.  As  usual,  the 
men  carried  their  guns,  and  the  recent  restless  and  threat- 
ening conduct  of  the  Indians  made  them  more  cautious 
to  see  that  their  ammunition  was  ready.  All  who  were 
able,  young  and  old,  had  left  their  dwellings,  and  were 
gathered  in  the  church.  The  long  services  were  well  advanced,  when 
the  sentinels,  who  were  posted  at  the  door  where  they  could  hear  the 
minister  while  they  kept  watch  against  surprise,  saw  smoke  ascending 
above  the  neighboring  trees,  in  the  direction  of  the  farthest  houses  of 
the  settlement.  An  alarm  was  given,  and  the  preacher  ceased  before 
he  was  half  through  his  long  sermon.  The  men  came  out  with  their 
arms,  and  women  and  children  followed  in  alarm.  The  smoke  of  two 
fires  was  now  seen,  and  all  the  people  hurried  to  learn  whose  dwellings 
were  in  flames. 

The  foremost  of  the  men  saw  in  the  distance  several  Indians 
hurrying  away,  and  the  fact  was  soon  made  known  that  two  families 
had  lost  their  homes  at  the  hands  of  the  savages.  Word  was  speedily 
sent  to  Plymouth,  and  from  Plymouth  to  Boston;  but  the  people  of 
Swansey  looked  upon  the  outrage  as  the  work  of  some  of  the  more 
insolent  of  the  savages,  and  not  as  a  preconcerted  movement  of  Philip's 
tribe,  and  they  desired  aid  simply  to  overawe  the  Indians,  and  secure 

384 


TROOPS  MARCH  TO  MOUNT  HOPE.  385 

the  offenders.  A  few  days  afterwards,  when  all  hands  were  in  the 
fields,  a  dozen  houses  were  rifled  by  the  marauders,  and  the  occupants 
returned  to  their  homes  to  find  their  scanty  goods  destroyed  or  carried 
away.  The  next  day,  one  of  the  settlers  was  shot  while  at  his  work. 
The  people  now  became  more  alarmed,  and  on  the  following  day  they 
realized  their  danger  when  several  more  of  their  number  were  shot  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  settlement.  They  learned  now  how  brutal  these 
savages  were  when  they  saw  their  friends  beheaded,  dismembered,  and 
mangled  in  the  most  inhuman  manner. 

It  was  evident  that  Philip's  unruly  followers  were  bent  on  some- 
thing more  than  the  destruction  or  plunder  of  property.  A  small  force 
now  arrived  from  Plymouth,  and  soon  after  a  larger  body  of  soldiers, 
including  a  troop  of  horse,  came  from  Boston,  from  which  place  they 
had  been  despatched  by  the  magistrates  at  the  first  alarm,  and  had 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  frontier  settlement  by  a  forced  march.  A 
party  of  horsemen  were  immediately  sent  out  to  reconnoitre,  and  were 
fired  upon  from  the  bushes  by  the  Indians.  One  man  was  killed  and 
another  wounded;  evidently  the  Indians  did  not  intend  to  yield  to  this 
show  of  force.  The  next  morning,  the  colonial  troops  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  retaliate,  and  shot  several  of  the  natives. 

Philip,  ascertaining  the  number  of  troops  brought  against  him,  knew 
that  he  could  not,  with  his  limited  number  of  well-armed  followers, 
maintain  his  ground;  and  since  he  had  now  commenced  war,  he  de- 
termined to  conduct  it  after  the  Indian  fashion  of  surprises  and  ambus- 
cades. He  accordingly  crossed  with  his  men  in  canoes  to  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  bay,  and  the  colonial  forces,  under  Major  Savage,  who  had 
come  from  Boston  with  additional  troops,  marched  to  Mount  Hope. 
They  found  the  Indian  wigwams  abandoned,  but  in  token  of  the 
ferocity  with  which  their  recent  occupants  had  commenced  hostilities, 
they  found  the  heads  of  eight  of  their  countrymen  stuck  upon  poles. 
Around  these  trophies  the  savages  had  danced  their  war-dance,  and 
gone  to  carry  terror  to  other  settlements.  Major  Savage,  however, 
supposed  the  enemy  was  still  on  the  peninsula  of  Mount  Hope,  and 
threw  up  a  slight  fortification  for  protection  against  attack,  or,  as  Captain 
Church  says,  "  the  army  now  lay  still  to  cover  the  people  from  nobody, 
while  they  were  building  a  fort  for  nothing." 

NO.  x.  49 


386 


KING   PHILIP'S    WAR. 


Captain  Church,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Indian  habits,  opposed 
stopping  at  Mount  Hope,  believing  that  Philip  and  his  men  had  left 
that  region.  He  advised  that  a  force  be  sent  across  the  bay  to  Pocasset, 
on  the  eastern  shore,  to  secure  quiet  among  the  Indians  there.  After 
some  delay,  Captains  Fuller  and  Church  were  sent  across  with  a  small 
force.  Fuller,  encountering  a  band  of  hostile  savages,  was  compelled 
to  withdraw  to  a  sloop,  which  took  him  back  to  Rhode  Island. 
Church,  with  fifteen  men,  marched  into  the  woods  and  encountered  a 
band  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  Indians.  He  retired  to  the 
shore,  closely  pressed  by  the  enemy,  and  during  a  long  summer  after- 
noon kept  them  at  bay.  On  the  other  side  of  the  water  were  many 
spectators,  and  Church  ordered  his  men  to  throw  off"  their  coats,  that 
their  white  shirts  might  be  seen,  and  thus  their  unequal  numbers  be 
observed,  and  reinforcements  or  boats  be  sent  to  them.  As  night 
approached,  and  their  ammunition  was  nearly  exhausted,  a  sloop  for- 
tunately appeared,  and  they  were  taken  on  board. 

Philip  soon  made  his  whereabouts  known  by  a  sudden  attack  on 
Dartmouth,  where  he  burned  nearly  thirty  houses  and  killed  a  number 
of  the  inhabitants,  whose  bodies  were  treated  with  the  ferocity  common 
to  Indian  warfare.  Parties  of  his  men  went  also  to  Taunton  and  Mid- 
dleborough,  where  they  burned  some-  houses  and  butchered  their 


•*a 
inmates. 


The  people  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  were  now  thoroughly 
alarmed.  They  had  never  experienced  anything  like  this,  and  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  massacres  in  Virginia  were  recalled  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling. The  only  experience  which  the  colonies  had  had  in  an  Indian 
war  was  when,  nearly  forty  years  before,  Mason  and  Underhill  had 
practically  destroyed  the  fierce  tribe  of  Pequots  in  Connecticut.  Noth- 
ing like  actual  hostilities  had  been  known  in  the  eastern  colonies  since 
Miles  Standish  had  so  summarily  nipped  in  the  bud  the  warlike  inten- 
tions of  Pecksuot  at  Weymouth.  It  was  with  reason  feared  that  Philip's 
example  might  arouse  the  savage  nature  of  other  tribes,  and  encourage 
them  to  join  in  a  war  upon  the  whites.  The  Narragansetts,  as  the 
most  powerful  tribe,  were  most  to  be  feared,  and  commissioners  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  attended  by  a  strong  military  escort, 
were  sent  to  secure  their  neutrality.  The  commissioners  effected  a 


AN  AMBUSCADE  AT  BROOKFIELD.  387 

treaty  with  the  sachems  of  that  tribe,  by  which  they  agreed  to  oppose 
Philip,  and  to  deliver  up,  alive  or  dead,  any  of  his  men  who  should 
come  within  their  country. 

But  the  bad  example  of  Philip  had  already  produced  its  effect.  His 
proceedings  had  long  ago  created  an  uneasiness  in  the  young  men  of 
other  tribes,  and  they  were  anxious  to  add  to  the  diversion  of  hunting 
that  of  killing  and  scalping  the  English  settlers.  Immediately  after 
the  events  at  Swansey,  Indian  runners  sped  through  the  woods  to  carry 
the  news  to  other  tribes;  and  while  the  commissioners  were  nego- 
tiating with  the  Narragan setts,  a  band  of  Nipmucks  —  a  tribe  of  cen- 
tral Massachusetts  —  made  a  hostile  attack  on  the  town  of  Mendon.  It 
was  not  so  formidable  as  to  indicate  that  the  tribe  was  determined  on 
hostilities,  and  Captain  Hutchinson  was  sent,  with  a  small  body  of 
troopers,  to  attempt  an  arrangement  similar  to  that  made  with  the  Nar- 


ragansetts. 


The  principal  rendezvous  of  the  Nipmucks  at  that  time  was  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Quaboag,  or  Brookfield,  where  there  was  a  small  set- 
tlement of  the  English,  —  the  only  one  between  Marlborough  and  the 
Connecticut  River.  The  people  of  Brookfield  were  already  alarmed  at 
the  conduct  of  the  Indians,  and  they  were  greatly  relieved  by  the 
appearance  of  Hutchinson  and  his  escort.  Arrangements  were  made 
for  a  conference  with  the  Indians,  and  a  place  for  the  interview  was 
appointed.  Hutchinson,  with  some  of  the  Brookfield  men,  escorted  by 
twenty  horsemen,  repaired  to  the  appointed  place,  but  the  Indians  were 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  As  the  absence  of  the  savages  might  be  due  to 
some  misunderstanding,  the  party  proceeded  several  miles  farther  in 
search  of  them,  and  as  they  entered  a  narrow  passage  between  a  steep, 
rocky  hill  on  the  one  hand  and  a  swamp  on  the  other,  they  fell  into  an 
ambush.  The  Indians,  concealed  among  the  bushes,  fired  upon  them, 
and  killed  eight  men,  while  Hutchinson,  Captain  Wheeler,  the  com- 
mander, and  several  others  were  wounded.  Wheeler's  horse  was  shot 
under  him,  but  his  son,  who  was  also  wounded,  gave  him  his,  and  for- 
tunately soon  after  secured  one  which  had  belonged  to  one  of  his  dead 
comrades  for  himself.  The  survivors  of  the  party  hastily  retreated, 
being  guided  by  one  of  the  Brookfield  men  through  the  woods  by  a 
circuitous  path  back  to  the  settlement. 


388  KING  PHILIP'S    WAR. 

All  the  inhabitants  of  Brookfield  hastily  took  refuge  in  a  large  house, 
which  the  men  prepared  to  defend.  The  retreating  party  had  hardly 
arrived  before  the  Indians  made  their  appearance  in  the  little  hamlet, 
and  speedily  set  fire  to  the  more  exposed  buildings,  and  two  messen- 
gers who  had  set  out  to  carry  the  news  to  Boston  were  driven  back. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  Indians  commenced  firing  at  the  house  in 
which  the  people  were  gathered,  and  one  man  was  mortally  wounded. 
Another,  who  ventured  out,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  savages,  who 
killed  him,  and  cutting  off  his  head,  kicked  it  about  as  a  football.  In 
the  night  they  attempted  to  set  fire  to  the  house  by  heaping  some  com- 
bustibles against  it,  and  applying  a  torch,  but  a  party  sallied  out  and 
extinguished  the  flames,  while  the  marksmen  within  kept  the  savages 
at  bay. 

Within  the  house  were  all  the  women  and  children  of  the  little 
settlement,  exposed  to  the  bullets  of  the  Indians,  which  often  penetrated 
the  walls,  and  in  danger  of  being  obliged  to  choose  between  perishing 
in  the  flames  or  being  butchered  by  the  cruel  savages.  All  the  fol- 
lowing day  and  night  the  Indians  were  lavish  with  their  ammunition, 
and  kept  up  a  constant  discharge  of  musketry  against  the  house. 
Arrows  tipped  with  burning  rags  were  discharged  at  the  roof,  through 
which  it  was  necessary  for  the  inmates  to  cut  holes  to  extinguish 
them.  Meanwhile  the  besieged  were  watchfully  keeping  the  besiegers 
at  a  distance  by  picking  off  with  fatal  shots  all  who  exposed  them- 
selves. The  savages,  however,  were  bent  upon  setting  fire  to  the 
house,  and  on  the  third  day  they  prepared  a  sort  of  long  cart,  the  for- 
ward part  of  which  was  loaded  with  combustibles.  This  they  intended 
to  light  and  push  against  the  house,  but  an  opportune  shower  of  rain 
so  wet  their  materials  that  they  would  not  burn. 

The  second  night  had  come,  and  the  besieged  were  looking  forward 
to  another  weary  watch  to  defeat  the  plans  of  the  cunning  and  active 
savages,  when  the  latter  suddenly  ceased  firing  their  guns,  and  discon- 
tinued their  yells.  Soon  a  heavy  trampling  was  heard,  and  Major 
Simon  Willard,  a  veteran  of  seventy  years,  came  galloping  into  the 
ruined  hamlet  with  fifty  heavily  armed  troopers,  and  accompanied  by  the 
cattle  belonging  to  the  settlers.  This  accession  to  Major  Willard's  force 
had  probably  made  it  seem  to  the  Indians  more  numerous  than  it  really 


BROOKFIELD  ABANDONED. 


389 


was.  Willard  was  on  his  way  from  Lancaster  to  Groton,  when  a  mes- 
senger informed  him  of  the  Nipmuck  attack,  and  he  immediately  hur- 
ried to  the  rescue  with  his  command,  accomplishing  the  long  march  in 
good  time,  and  with  a  vigor  which  would  have  been  creditable  to  a 
much  younger  man. 

The  Indians  withdrew  from  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Brook- 
field,  having  lost  about  eighty  men  during  the  siege.  It  was  afterwards 
learned  that  the  next  day  Philip  met  the  Nipmuck  chiefs  and  made  them 
presents,  in  token  of  alliance  against  the  whites.  He  had,  indeed, 
reached  the  Nipmuck  country  the  day  before  the  fatal  ambush,  and  to 
him  was  probably  due  the  treachery  of  the  chiefs,  who  had  promised  a 
friendly  conference,  and  gave  a  bloody  assault.  He  had  been  closely 
pressed,  in  the  vicinity  of  Taunton  River,  by  the  troops  returning  from 
the  mission  to  the  Narragansetts,  and  obliged  to  fly.  In  the  pursuit  he 
lost  thirty  men,  but  with  the  remainder  of  his  tribe,  including  the  women 
and  children,  he  succeeded  in  joining  the  Nipmucks.  He  had  plunged 
madly  into  war,  and  now  he  determined  to  stir  up  all  his  race  to 
join  him. 

As  soon  as  the  wounded  were  able  to  be  moved,  Brookfield  was 
abandoned,  and  the  inhabitants  withdrew  to  Marlborough,  where  Hutch- 
inson  diqd  of  his  wounds.  The  veteran  Willard  with  his  troop  pro- 
ceeded to  Hadley.  The  alarm  now  spread  throughout  the  colonies,  and 
every  family  in  the  smaller  and  more  exposed  settlements  were  in  con- 
stant dread  lest  they  should  be  roused  from  their  slumbers  by  the  fearful 
war-whoop  to  find  their  homes  in  flames  and  cruel  savages  Waiting  to 
butcher  them.  The  hostile  spirit  was  spreading  among  the  Indians, 
bands  of  whom  were  ready  to  plunder  and  kill  wherever  they  could 
surprise  an  exposed  house. 

The  towns  on  the  Connecticut  River  were  especially  in  danger,  and 
forces  were  sent  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  for  their  protection. 
Hadley  was  selected  as  the  principal  military  post  and  depot  for  supplies, 
whence  expeditions  could  be  sent  up  or  down  the  river.  At  Hatfield, 
a  small  stockade  was  erected,  and  a  body  of  Indians  of  that  vicinity,  who 
professed  friendship,  was  supplied  with  arms  and  stationed  there.  There 
were  soon  some  indications  that  these  Indians  were  not  so  friendly  as 
had  been  supposed,  and  a  hundred  men  were  sent  from  Hadley  to  dis- 


39° 


KING   PHILIP'S    WAR. 


arm  them.  On  their  arrival  at  Hatfield,  they  found  the  Indians  had 
decamped,  and  immediately  started  in  pursuit.  They  came  upon  the 
fugitives  in  a  swamp,  ten  miles  from  the  settlement,  and  a  fight  ensued, 
in  which  the  colonial  troops  lost  ten  men  and  the  Indians  twenty-six. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  all  the  Indians  along  the  Connecticut, 
who  had  hitherto  lived  on  friendly  terms  with  the  settlers,  now  sym- 
pathized with  their  hostile  countrymen,  and  only  waited  for  opportunity 
to  wage  war  according  to  the  Indian  custom,  by  surprises  and  ambus- 
cades. At  Deerfield,  a  number  of  houses  and  barns  were  burned,  and 
two  men  were  killed.  At  Northfield,-  a  party  of  men,  having  ventured 
out  of  a  block-house  where  all  the  settlers  were  obliged  to  take  refuge, 
were  intercepted  by  a  band  of  skulking  Indians,  and  nine  of  them  were 
killed. 

The  Indians  were  ever  watchful  for  an  opportunity  to  attack  when 
the  settlers  were  at  disadvantage.  They  knew  all  the  movements  of  the 
troops,  and  observed  when  the  greater  part  of  the  forces  had  left  Haclley 
on  some  expedition.  The  inhabitants  of  this  place  were  keeping  a  fast, 
and  were  attending  religious  services  in  their  meeting-house,  when  they 
were  suddenly  aroused  by  the  yells  of  the  savages.  The  men  seized  their 
muskets,  and  rushed  out  to  defend  their  wives  and  children  from  the 
dreaded  enemy.  They  saw  the  Indians  skulking  from  shelter  to  shelter, 
and  advancing  on  every  side,  sounding  the  war-whoop,  and  discharging 
their  guns  from  behind  trees.  Unused  to  war,  surprised  and  confused 
by  the  suddenness  of  the  attack,  and  having  no  skilled  leader,  they  were 
about  to  give  way,  when,  as  tradition  has  it,  a  stranger,  clad  in  an  ancient 
garb,  tall  and  erect  notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  appeared  sud- 
denly among  them  and  assumed  command.  His  bold  demeanor  and  his 
stern  voice  rallied  the  wavering  settlers,  and  they  quickly  made  good 
use  of  their  muskets.  The  skulking  enemy  was  checked  in  his  advance, 
and  then,  under  the  lead  of  the  mysterious  commander,  the  settlers 
rushed  forward  and  drove  the  assailants  headlong  out  of  the  town. 
When  the  victorious  settlers  desisted  from  pursuit,  and  again  gathered 
at  their  meeting-house,  their  leader  had  disappeared.  No  one  knew 
whence  he  came  or  whither  he  had  gone,  and,  with  awe  and  thanks- 
giving, they  believed  he  must  have  been  a  supernatural  visitant  sent  by 
a  merciful  Providence  to  be  their  deliverer.  But  the  unknown  leader 


GOFFE  RALLYING  THE  MEN  OF  HADLEY. 


A   FIGHT  NEAR  NORTHFIELD.  39I 

was  none  other  than  the  regicide  Goffe,  who  dwelt  so  secretly  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Russell  that  his  existence  was  unknown  to  the  greater 
part  of  the  people,  and  the  fidelity  of  those  who  were  in  the  secret  was 
too  true  to  allow  them  to  betray  it,  even  in  this  time  of  excitement.  He 
had  seen  the  stealthy  approach  of  the  savages,  and  realizing  the  danger, 
he  rushed  out  to  engage  once  more  in  the  din  of  battle,  and  to  lead  to 
victory.  When  he  had  performed  this  last  service  "  for  God's  people," 
he  returned  again  to  his  place  of  concealment,  and  the  awe-struck 
inhabitants  of  Hadley  saw  him  no  more. 

The  inhabitants  and  little  garrison  at  Northfield  were  in  an  exposed 
position,  at  a  distance  from  the  main  body  of  the  military  and  other 
settlements.  After  the  attack  on  the  party  who  ventured  out  from  the 
block-house  there,  Captain  Beers  was  sent,  with  thirty-six  men  and  some 
wagons,  to  bring  away  the  remainder  of  the  people  and  the  stores. 
When  this  party  had  arrived  within  three  miles  of  Northfield,  they  were 
attacked  by  a  body  of  Indians  lying  in  ambush.  They  fought  till  their 
ammunition  was  exhausted,  and  then  were  obliged  to  retreat,  with  a  loss 
of  twenty  men,  including  the  commander.  They  had,  however,  inflicted 
a  greater  loss  on  their  assailants.  Most  of  the  survivors  succeeded  in 
reaching  Hadley  the  same  night,  but  one  wandered  in  the  woods  six 
days,  and  came  in  almost  famished.  A  stronger  force,  under  Major 
Treat,  was  then  sent  up  to  Northfield,  and,  though  the  Indians  undertook 
to  waylay  them,  the  men  fought  their  way  through,  and  brought  off  their 
friends  in  Northfield,  that  settlement  being  abandoned. 

At  this  stage  of  affairs,  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies 
met  at  Boston,  and,  after  due  deliberation,  decided  that  the  war  was 
defensive  in  its  origin,  and  should  be  carried  on  by  the  colonies  jointly; 
and  they  ordered  "that  there  be  forthwith  raised  a  thousand  soldiers, 
whereof  five  hundred  should  be  dragoons,  or  troopers  with  long  arms." 
Massachusetts  was  to  raise  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven  men,  Con- 
necticut three  hundred  and  fifteen,  and  Plymouth  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight.  The  troops  were  raised  from  all  the  towns,  and  supplies 
collected  for  their  maintenance.  Astringent  code  of  "  articles  of  war" 
was  adopted  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  for  the  government 
of  the  forces  of  that  colony,  "  to  prevent  profaneness,  that  iniquity  may 
be  kept  out  of  the  camp."  Morality  and  religious  duties  were  especially 


392 


KING   PHILIP'S    WAR. 


enforced  by  this  code,  and  insubordination  and  other  military  offences 
were  punished,  some  with  death,  and  others  "with  some  grievous  pun- 
ishment." "  By  grievous  punishment  is  meant  disgracing  by  cashiering, 
the  strappado,  or  riding  the  wooden  horse  to  fetch  blood." 

Meanwhile  the  Indians  continued  their  hostile  movements  on  the 
Connecticut.  At  Deerfield  —  which  after  the  abandonment  of  North- 
field  was  the  most  exposed  settlement  —  the  Indians  fired  upon  the  in- 
habitants as  they  went  to  public  worship.  It  was  then  deemed  advisable 
to  abandon  this  settlement  also,  and  the  people  were  removed  to  the 
towns  further  down  the  river.  They  had  just  harvested,  and  partially 
threshed,  a  considerable  quantity  of  wheat,  which  they  left  behind,  and 
a  party  of  teamsters  and  soldiers  was  sent  from  Iladley  to  finish  threshing 
and  bring  it  away.  This  expedition  consisted  of  eighteen  wagons  with 
their  teamsters,  escorted  by  a  force  of  ninety  picked  men,  "  the  flower 
of  Essex,"  under  Captain  Lothrop.  The  party  reached  Deerfield  with- 
out opposition,  threshed  and  loaded  the  grain,  and  on  the  i8th  of  Sep- 
tember commenced  their  homeward  march.  They  had  proceeded  several 
miles  through  a  level  country,  thickly  wooded,  where  they  were  exposed 
to  an  attack  on  either  flank,  but  no  sign  of  the  presence  of  Indians  was 
seen,  and  they  began  to  be  unsuspicious  of  danger  and  careless.  Reach- 
ing a  small  stream  bordered  with  thick  woods,  the  teams  found  some 
difficulty  in  crossing,  and  those  of  the  party  who  were  in  advance  waited 
for  the  others  to  cross.  During  the  halt  the  men  laid  aside  their  arms 
and  began  to  gather  the  wild  grapes  which  hung  ripe  upon  the  vines. 

It  was  a  fatal  imprudence.  In  the  thick  bushes  lay  concealed  several 
hundred  Indians,  and  suddenly  a  volley  from  as  many  muskets  was  dis- 
charged at  the  unsuspecting  English,  many  of  whom  were  killed.  A 
fearful  yell  succeeded,  and  a  swarm  of  savages  sprang  from  their  am- 
bush, and  fell  upon  the  disconcerted  soldiers  before  they  could  seize 
their  arms  and  form.  Confusion  and  dismay  followed.  The  troops  fled, 
pursued  by  the  Indians,  who  outnumbered  them  at  least  five  to  one. 
Lothrop,  who  exerted  himself  bravely  to  rally  his  men,  soon  fell,  and  the 
scattered  soldiers  could  only  fight  each  by  himself.  There  was  no  hope 
of  mercy  from  the  savage  foe,  and  they  resolved  to  sell  their  lives  dearly. 
Sheltering  themselves  behind  trees,  they  fired  upon  the  assailants,  but 
the  far  more  numerous  Indians  were  equal  if  not  superior  marksmen, 


BLOOD T  BROOK. 


393 


and  the  number  of  English  rapidly  diminished.  At  length  the  force  was 
all  but  annihilated;  only  seven  or  eight  escaping.  One  of  these  was 
shot  and  tomahawked,  and  being  stripped  was  left  for  dead;  but  having 
revived  after  the  Indians  disappeared,  he  succeeded  in  making  his  way 
to  Hadley.  The  little  stream  on  whose  banks  this  carnage  took  place 
has  well  been  named  "  Bloody  Brook." 

Captain  Mosely,  with  a  company  of  soldiers  who  had  been  stationed 
at  Deerfield,  and  remained  behind  to  protect  the  rear  of  the  train  from 
any  sudden  attack,  heard  the  musketry  five  miles  away,  and  hurried  for- 
ward to  the  scene  of  the  battle.  He  found  the  Indians  scalping  and 
stripping  the  dead,  and  opened  a  vigorous  fire  upon  them.  The  sav- 
ages, though  greatly  superior  in  numbers,  did  not  dare  to  face  a  well- 
ordered  force  in  the  open  field,  but  they  kept  up  the  contest  from  their 
hiding-places  for  some  time.  At  last  Major  Treat  arrived  with  a 
hundred  soldiers  and  fifty  friendly  Mohegans  (who  were  still  faithful  to 
the  pledges  of  Uncas),  and  drove  the  skulking  enemy  from  the  ground. 
The  troops  encamped  for  the  night  near  the  scene  of  the  battle,  and  the 
next  day  they  buried  their  fallen  comrades,  over  whom  a  later  genera- 
tion has  erected  a  monument. 

The  battle  of  Bloody  Brook  carried  mourning  into  many  a  family  in 
Ipswich,  Salem,  and  other  towns  of  Essex  County,  where  the  unfortunate 
company  was  enlisted,  and  caused  intense  excitement  throughout  Mas- 
sachusetts. With  fire-arms  in  their  hands,  the  Indians  had  become  far 
more  formidable  than  they  had  hitherto  been  regarded,  and  their  mode 
of  warfare  by  ambuscades  and  midnight  surprises  made  them  more 
dreaded  than  an  enemy  of  far  greater  numbers  would  have  been  in 
the  open  field.  The  treachery  of  the  natives  was  becoming  general, 
and  those  who  had  hitherto  lived  on  friendly  terms  with  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  frontier  towns  now  showed  a  hostile  spirit. 

The  Indians  about  Springfield  had  from  the  first  manifested  a  dispo- 
sition to  live  peaceably  with  their  white  neighbors.  They  were  fre- 
quently in  the  town  to  barter  or  beg,  and  were  always  well  treated. 
When  hostilities  were  commenced  elsewhere,  the  people  of  Springfield 
still  trusted  these  Indians,  who  gave  the  most  positive  assurances  of 
friendship,  and  no  considerable  force  was  posted  there.  But  while  the 
treacherous  savages  were  making  these  professions,  Philip,  or  his  em- 

NO.  x.  50 


394 


KING   PHILIP'S    WAR. 


issaries,  was  persuading  them  to  join  in  the  war,  and  they  yielded  to  his 
influence.  About  a  mile  from  the  town  they  had  a  fort,  and  in  it  they 
gathered  all  the  warriors  of  the  tribe,  and  were  joined  by  others  who 
had  already  engaged  in  the  war.  A  friendly  Indian  belonging  near 
Windsor,  in  Connecticut,  gave  to  some  of  the  people  of  that  place  in- 
formation of  the  hostile  gathering,  and  of  the  purpose  to  attack  Spring- 
field. Warning  was  immediately  sent  to  the  threatened  village,  and 
also  to  Major  Treat,  who  was  stationed  at  Westfield  with  the  Con- 
necticut troops.  But  the  people  of  Springfield  were  so  strongly  per- 
suaded of  the  good  faith  of  the  neighboring  tribe,  that  they  would  not 
credit  the  report,  and  took  no  measures  for  defence.  Lieutenant  Cooper, 
who  was  the  military  commander,  was  so  confident  that  the  report  was 
unfounded  that  he  rode  out  early  in  the  morning  with  another  man,  with 
a  design  to  go  to  the  fort  and  discover  the  true  state  of  affairs.  They 
had  not  gone  far  from  the  town  before  they  encountered  some  Indians, 
who,  without  waiting  to  parley,  at  once  discharged  their  guns,  wounding 
Cooper  and  killing  his  companion.  Though  severely  hurt,  Cooper  kept 
his  horse,  and  sped  back  towards  Springfield  to  give  the  alarm.  The 
people  hurried  from  their  homes  as  the  fearful  news  was  carried  along, 
and  gathered  in  the  strongest  houses  in  the  midst  of  the  village,  still 
uncertain  whether  anything  more  serious  would  occur. 

The  Indians  soon  appeared  in  large  numbers  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
town,  and  as  they  advanced,  plundered  and  set  fire  to  the  unprotected 
houses  and  barns.  The  inhabitants  were  in  the  utmost  consternation, 
and  there  was  no  commander  to  rally  the  men  in  defence  of  their  homes 
and  families.  They  could  make  only  an  irregular  and  feeble  resistance, 
and  they  might  ultimately  have  been  all  killed  or  captured,  had  not 
Major  Treat  fortunately  come  to  their  relief.  Putting  more  faith  in  the 
report  than  the  people  of  Springfield  did,  he  lost  no  time  in  marching 
towards  that  place.  But  when  he  reached  the  Connecticut,  he  was 
delayed  by  the  want  of  a  sufficient  number  of  boats  to  cross,  and  he 
was  not  in  time  to  prevent  the  attack.  The  savages  had  already  de- 
stroyed thirty  dwelling-houses,  and  were  closing  around  those  in  which 
the  inhabitants  had  taken  refuge,  when  he  arrived.  The  appearance  of 
the  troops  caused  the  Indians  to  pause  in  their  work  and  then  to 
retire.  They  had  no  disposition  to  face  an  organized  body  of  whites 


ATTACK  ON  HATFIELD. 

in  an  open  field,  and  their  retreat  was  soon  hastened  by  Major  Treat's 
prompt  attack. 

A  fortnight  after  the  attack  on  Springfield,  the  Indians  appeared  in 
force  at  Hatfield,  and  commenced  a  like  exploit.  But  they  found  the 
people  here  better  prepared  for  such  a  visit,  and  a  small  garrison  ready 
to  defend  the  place.  A  hot  fire  was  opened  on  them,  and  after  a  sharp 
but  short  encounter,  the  assailants  were  driven  off  with  considerable  loss. 
This  was  the  last  appearance  for  a  time  of  any  large  number  of  hostile 
Indians  on  the  Connecticut.  Short  campaigns  were  the  rule  with  them, 
and  they  were  wont  to  disappear  as  suddenly  and  mysteriously  as  they 
came,  plunging  into  the  depths  of  the  forest  after  a  fight,  whether  suc- 
cessful or  the  reverse.  Now  they  had  apparently  withdrawn  to  recu- 
perate; for,  considering  their  numbers,  they  had  suffered  heavy  losses. 
As  that  part  of  the  country  seemed  to  be  abandoned  by  the  enemy,  many 
of  the  colonial  troops  also  returned  to  their  homes,  and  it  was  fondly 
hoped  that  the  war  was  over. 


XLVI. 
KING   PHILIP'S  WAR. -THE   NARRAGANSETTS. 


HILIP  had  by  no  means  abandoned  the  war.  He  sought 
now  to  carry  it  to  another  field,  and,  by  his  personal 
appeals,  or  the  efforts  of  his  emissaries,  he  aroused  the 
war  spirit  of  the  Narragansetts,  and  secured  their  alliance. 
That  formidable  tribe  had,  at  the  commencement  of 
hostilities,  promised  neutrality;  and  while  some  of  the 
bloody  scenes  were  occurring  on  the  western  frontier, 
Canonchet,  the  sachem,  with  other  chiefs,  went  to  Boston, 
and  agreed  that  the  hostile  Indians  who  had  taken  refuge  with  them 
should  be  surrendered  within  ten  days.  But  the  slaughter  at  Bloody 
Brook,  and  the  other  achievements  of  their  countrymen  at  the  west, 
aroused  the  ferocity  of  the  savages,  and  they  did  not  keep  their  en- 
gagement. 

When  the  day  appointed  for  the  surrender  passed,  and  no  Indians 
appeared,  it  became  evident  that  the  Narragansetts  also  were  infected 
with  the  hostile  spirit.  Taking  warning  from  the  treacherous  conduct  of 
Philip,  the  Federal  Commissioners  determined  not  to  parley  with  them, 
but  promptly  voted  to  raise  an  additional  force  of  a  thousand  men  to 
operate  against  these  new  enemies.  Six  weeks  were  allowed  for  col- 
lecting this  force  at  the  appointed  rendezvous,  and  time  was  thus  given 
the  Narragansetts  to  reconsider  their  treacherous  conduct.  If  they  still 
failed  to  keep  their  promises,  they  were  to  be  attacked  without  further 
delay.  The  force  was  raised  and  equipped  with  care,  and  Governor 
Winslow,  of  Plymouth,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief. 

396 


AN  INDIAN  STRONGHOLD  ATTACKED. 


397 


It  was  the  middle  of  December  before  the  quotas  of  the  several  col- 
onies assembled  at  Pettyquamscott.  In  the  mean  time  the  Indians  had 
committed  outrages  on  some  small  settlements  in  the  region  frequented 
by  the  Narragansetts,  and  the  colonists  were  convinced  that  this  tribe, 
if  not  the  actual  perpetrators,  were  privy  to  the  deeds.  From  a  prisoner 
Governor  Winslow  had  ascertained  that  the  principal  body  of  the  Nar- 
ragansetts were  in  a  fortified  position  some  eighteen  miles  distant,  and 
he  gave  orders  for  an  attack  upon  them  on  the  following  day,  although 
it  was  Sunday,  a  day  sacredly  observed  even  in  war  by  the  Puritans, 
except  in  extraordinary  cases. 

The  position  of  the  Indians  was  a  strong  one,  being  on  a  piece  of 
upland,  five  or  six  acres  in  extent,  surrounded  by  a  swamp.  It  was  also 
defended  by  several  rows  of  palisades,  and  the  only  entrance  was  by 
a  rude  bridge,  consisting  of  a  felled  tree,  laid  across  the  bog,  opposite 
which  was  a  block-house.  In  this  enclosure  the  Narragansett  warriors, 
to  the  number,  as  was  then  believed,  of  more  than  three  thousand, 
were  gathered,  ready  to  resist  an  attack,  or  to  start  upon  some  sudden 
expedition  against  the  English  settlements. 

The  weather  was  cold,  and  the  snow  lay  deep  upon  the  ground. 
The  troops  were  without  shelter,  and  they  suffered  much;  but  before 
light  on  the  appointed  morning  they  moved  towards  the  position  of  the 
savages,  and  arrived  before  it  an  hour  after  noon.  Notwithstanding  their 
long  and  laborious  march,  they  at  once  advanced  to  the  attack.  It  was 
a  difficult  and  dangerous  work  to  cross  the  narrow  bridge,  or  wade 
through  the  half  frozen  swamp.  Seven  or  eight  captains  fell  before  the 
guns  of  the  Indians  in  making  this  advance;  but  the  men  were  not 
daunted  by  the  loss  of  their  officers,  and  pressed  on  with  great  spirit. 
The  fight  was  desperate,  and  before  the  whole  force  could  gain  an 
entrance  to  the  fort,  those  in  advance  were  once  driven  out  of  it. 
But  they  soon  rallied,  and  regaining  the  lost  ground,  drove  the  Indians 
back.  The  whole  of  the  storming  party  having  gained  an  entrance, 
the  battle  raged  fiercely;  the  Indians  fought  desperately  in  defence  of 
their  last  stronghold,  and  the  English,  enclosed  in  the  fort  with  the 
savage  foe,  had  no  choice  but  to  conquer  or  die.  But  the  valor  and 
endurance  of  the  civilized  soldier  exceeded  that  of  the  savage,  and 
at  last  the  colonial  troops  were  victorious.  The  Indians  gave  way, 


398  KING  PHILIP'S   WAR.  — THE  NARRAGANSETTS. 

and  sought  safety  in  flight,  while  the  English  applied  the  torch  to  the 
wigwams. 

The  colonial  loss  in  this  conflict  was  seventy  killed  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  wounded,  many  of  whom  afterwards  died  of  their  wounds. 
The  loss  of  the  Indians  was  supposed  to  be  several  hundred,  and  was 
so  severe  a  blow  to  the  Narragansetts  that  their  power  as  a  hostile  tribe 
was  completely  broken.  Though  the  colonial  troops  had  achieved  a 
victory,  they  were  in  a  sorry  condition.  With  their  many  wounded, 
they  had  no  shelter  from  the  severe  cold  and  falling  snow.  Had  the 
wigwams  been  spared,  they  might  have  found  ample  protection,  as  well 
as  food  from  the  Indian  stores.  Captain  Church,  who  was  a  volunteer 
on  this  expedition,  and  from  his  knowledge  of  Indian  habits  proved  a 
useful  aid  to  Governor  Winslow,  remonstrated  against  the  burning  of 
the  wigwams;  but  Winslow  believed  that  his  exhausted  troops  would 
be  exposed  to  attack  from  the  savages,  who  were  supposed  to  swarm  in 
the  adjacent  woods,  and  determined  to  withdraw  to  the  place  of  ren- 
dezvous, where  he  could  obtain  food,  of  which  the  men  were  greatly 
in  want. 

The  troops,  weary  and  cold,  retraced  their  difficult  march  through  the 
forest  at  night,  the  increasing  depth  of  snow  rendering  it  more  and  more 
laborious  as  they  proceeded.  They  carried  the  wounded  with  them  as 
carefully  as  possible,  but  several  of  them  died  on  the  way.  During  the 
retreat,  Winslow,  with  some  of  his  principal  officers  and  the  ministers 
who  had  been  sent  with  the  expedition,  while  attempting  to  pass  around 
a  swamp,  lost  their  way,  and  wandered  back  to  the  scene  of  the  conflict. 
Fortunately  they  were  not  surprised  by  the  savages,  and  after  "  thirty 
miles'  marching  up  and  down,"  in  the  morning  they  reached  the  main 
body,  of  the  army. 

The  colonial  forces  remained  at  Wickford  several  weeks,  suffering 
much  from  cold  and  hunger.  Supplies  sent  to  them  by  water  failed  to 
arrive,  and  at  one  time  they  were  forced  to  kill  horses  for  food.  The 
Connecticut  troops  at  length  withdrew  to  Stonington,  but  the  Massachu- 
setts and  Plymouth  levies  still  remained  in  the  field,  and  were  reinforced 
by  troops  from  Boston.  Nothing  important,  however,  was  accomplished; 
the  Indians  had  scattered,  and  though  some  roving  bands  were  occasion- 
ally encountered,  no  formidable  force  appeared  or  was  heard  of.  After 


THE    WAR  NOT  ENDED.  399 

a  campaign  of  two  months,  there  seeming  to  be  no  occasion  for  their 
remaining  longer,  exposed  to  the  cold  and  storms,  the  Massachusetts  and 
Plymouth  troops  also  returned  home. 

The  people  in  the  larger  settlements  now  felt  that  the  war  was  sub- 
stantially over,  and  that  since  the  defeat  of  the  Narragansetts  there  was 
little  danger  to  be  feared.  But  they  did  not  know  the  Indian  character 
and  mode  of  warfare.  It  soon  became  known,  through  friendly  Indians, 
that  the  remnants  of  the  hostile  tribes  had  by  no  means  given  over  the 
war.  They  professed  to  expect  assistance  from  the  French,  and  it  was 
evident  that  they  intended  to  transfer  the  seat  of  war  to  the  interior  of 
Massachusetts,  and  attack  the  exposed  settlements  there.  The  Narra- 
gansetts, who  were  reported  to  number  seven  hundred  warriors,  and 
were  anxious  to  revenge  their  losses,  had  joined  Philip,  and  most  of  the 
other  scattered  tribes  were  ready  to  unite  in  the  war  against  the  whites, 
who  were  regarded  as  the  common  enemy  of  their  race.  This  informa- 
tion caused  the  Federal  Commissioners  to  call  for  another  levy  of  six 
hundred  troops,  who  were  ordered  to  assemble  at  Brookfield  in  three 
weeks.  It  was  a  short  time  for  the  colonies  to  raise  such  a  force,  but 
it  was  not  short  enough  to  prevent  disaster.  As  if  the  Indians  were 
informed  of  the  purpose  of  the  colonists,  they  at  once  resumed  active 
hostilities,  and  fell  upon  the  frontier  towns  which  the  troops  were 
designed  to  protect. 


XI.  VII. 

ATTACK    ON    LANCASTER. -MRS.    ROWLAND- 
SON'S    CAPTIVITY. 


^N  1676  the  town  of  Lancaster  contained  about  fifty 
^  houses  and  nearly  three  hundred  inhabitants.  Situated 
in  a  beautiful  valley,  with  a  rich  alluvial  soil,  it  was 
one  of  the  pleasantest  settlements  in  Massachusetts,  and 
had  grown  more  rapidly  than  most  of  the  inland  towns. 
The  Reverend  Joseph  Rowlandson  had  come  thither 
with  the  first  settlers,  and  was  the  minister  of  the  town. 
,  When  it  became  known  through  spies  that  the  Indians 
were  likely  to  attack  the  inland  towns,  Mr.  Rowland- 
son  went  to  Boston  to  represent  the  exposed  condition  of  Lancaster, 
and  to  solicit  aid  from  the  authorities  for  its  defence.  But  no  imme- 
diate provision  was  made  for  the  defence  of  that  town,  it  being  sup- 
posed that  a  general  levy  would  be  sufficient  for  the  protection  of  all. 
Mr.  Rowlandson,  however,  urged  his  suit  so  strenuously,  and  showed 
such  strong  reasons  for  immediate  action,  that  a  force  of  forty  men, 
under  Major  Wadsworth,  was  sent  to  the  relief  of  the  endangered 
settlement. 

It  was  too  late.  On  the  loth  of  February,  about  sunrise,  a  large 
force  of  Indians  suddenly  appeared  at  Lancaster,  and  setting  fire  to  the 
houses  on  the  outskirts,  killed  such  of  the  inmates  as  they  found.  The 
inhabitants,  dreading  such  a  visit,  had  made  such  preparation  as  they 
could  by  fortifying  some  of  the  stronger  houses,  and  into  these  the  people 
were  gathered  as  speedily  as  possible.  But  all  were  unable  to  reach 

400 


ATTACK  ON  LANCASTER.  401 

these  places  of  refuge  before  the  savages  were  upon  them.  Five  per- 
sons were  surprised  in  one  house;  the  father  and  mother  and  an  infant 
were  killed,  and  two  children  were  carried  away  as  prisoners.  Several 
were  shot  as.  they  ran,  and  their  bodies  treated  with  the  greatest  bar- 
barity in  sight  of  their  trembling  neighbors.  One  man,  seeing  some 
Indians  about  his  barn,  went  out  to  speak  to  them,  and  was  shot. 
Burning  houses  and  barns  as  they  advanced,  they  at  last  came  to  the 
fortified  houses.  Climbing  upon  the  barn  of  one  of  them,  they  fired 
down  into  the  low  fortification  and  killed  three  men  before  their  move- 
ments were  observed.  With  fearful  yells  they  appeared  in  every  direc- 
tion, discharging  their  guns  at  the  houses  in  which  the  women  and 
children  were  trembling  with  fear,  while  the  men  did  their  best  to 
defend  them. 

Mr.  Rowlandson's  house  was  one  of  those  which  were  fortified,  and 
in  it  were  gathered  some  of  the  neighboring  families,  numbering,  with 
his,  thirty-seven  persons.  Mrs.  Rowlandson's  narrative  of  the  attack 
and  her  subsequent  captivity,  which  was  written  after  her  ransom,  viv- 
idly describes  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare,  and  the  sufferings  of  those 
who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  into  their  hands  as  captives.  It 
shows  also  the  miserable  condition  to  which  the  Indians  were  some- 
times reduced,  and  the  Christian  fortitude  with  which  she  endured  her 
hardships. 

After  describing  the  approach  of  the  Indians,  and  the  events  men- 
tioned above,  Mrs.  Rowlandson's  narrative  continues:  — 

"  At  length  they  came  and  assaulted  our  house,  —  such  a  doleful  day 
my  eyes  never  beheld  before.  The  house  stood  upon  the  edge  of  a 
hill;  some  of  the  Indians  got  behind  the  hill,  others  into  the  barn,  and 
others  behind  whatever  would  shelter  them;  from  all  which  places  they 
shot  against  the  house,  so  that  the  bullets  seemed  to  fly  like  hail,  and 
soon  they  wounded  one  man  among  us,  then  another,  and  then  a  third. 
They  had  been  about  the  house  about  two  hours  (according  to  my 
estimation  in  that  amazing  time)  before  they  succeeded  in  setting  it 
on  fire,  which  they  did  with  flax  and  hemp  which  they  brought  out 
of  the  barn.  They  set  it  on  fire  once,  and  one  ventured  out  and 
quenched  it;  but  they  soon  fired  it  again,  and  that  kindled.  Now  the 
dreadful  hour  was  come  that  I  had  often  heard  of  others  being  called 

NO.  xi.  51 


MR S.   ROWLANDSON'S  CAPTIVITY. 

to,  in  time  of  war,  but  now  mine  own  eyes  saw  it.  Some  in  our  house 
were  fighting  for  their  lives,  while  others  were  wallowing  in  their  blood, 
the  house  being  on  fire  over  our  heads,  and  the  bloody  savages  were 
standing  ready  to  bury  the  tomahawk  in  our  heads  if  we  stirred  out.  Now 
we  could  hear  mothers  and  children  crying  out,  '  Lord,  what  shall  we  do?  ' 
I  took  my  children,  and  one  of  my  sisters  hers,  to  go  out  and  leave  the 
house;  but  as  soon  as  we  made  our  appearance  at  the  door,  the  Indians 
fired  so  fast  that  the  bullets  rattled  against  the  house  as  if  one  had  taken  a 
handful  of  stones  and  thrown  them,  so  that  we  were  forced  to  give  back. 
.  .  .  But  the  fire  increasing  and  roaring  behind  us,  we  must  of  necessity 
go  out,  though  the  Indians  were  gaping  before  us  with  their  guns,  spears, 
and  hatchets  to  devour  the  prey.  No  sooner  were  we  out  of  the  house 
than  my  brother-in-law  (having  before  been  wounded,  in  defending  the 
house,  in  or  near  the  throat)  fell  down  dead,  at  which  the  Indians  scorn- 
fully shouted  and  halloed,  and  were  presently  upon  him  stripping  off  his 
clothes.  The  bullets  flying  thick,  one  of  them  went  through  my  side, 
and  the  same  through  the  bowels  and  hand  of  my  poor  child  in  my 
arms.  One  of  my  elder  sister's  children  had  his  leg  broken,  which 
being  perceived  by  the  Indians,  they  knocked  him  on  the  head.  Thus 
were  we  butchered  by  those  merciless  savages,  the  blood  running  down 
at  our  feet.  My  eldest  sister  being  yet  in  the  house,  seeing  the  Indians 
hauling  mothers  one  way  and  children  another,  and  some  wallowing  in 
their  blood,  and  being  told  that  her  son  William  was  dead  and  that 
I  was  wounded,  she  exclaimed,  f  Lord,  let  me  die  with  them!'  No 
sooner  had  she  said  this  than  she  was  struck  with  a  bullet,  and  fell 
down  dead  over  the  threshold.  The  Indians  now  laid  hold  on  us,  pull- 
ing me  one  way  and  the  children  another,  saying,  '  Come,  go  along  with 
us.'  I  told  them  that  they  would  kill  me.  They  said  if  I  was  willing 
to  go  along  with  them  they  would  not  hurt  me." 

The  savages  had  triumphed.  Of  thirty-seven  persons  in  the  house 
but  one  escaped;  twelve  were  killed,  and  the  others,  mostly  women  and 
children,  were  carried  into  captivity.  The  prisoners  were  divided  among 
their  captors,  and  having  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  village,  and 
night  coming  on,  the  assailants  retired  with  their  captives  and  booty. 
They  withdrew  about  a  mile,  and  then  stopped  for  the  night  on  a  hill 
overlooking  the  desolated  settlement.  It  was  a  terrible  night  for  the 


DEATH  OF  THE    WOUNDED    CHILD.  403 

captives,  in  the  midst  of  their  triumphant  enemies.  The  rejoicing  of 
the  Indians  over  their  exploits  is  thus  described  by  Mrs.  Rowlandson: 
"  O,  the  roaring,  and  singing,  and  dancing,  and  yelling  of  those  tawny 
creatures  on  that  night!  which  made  the  place  a  lively  resemblance 
of  hell;  and  there  was  a  sad  waste  made  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  swine, 
calves,  and  fowls,  which  they  had  plundered  in  the  town:  some  lay 
roasting,  some  burning,  and  some  boiling,  to  feed  our  merciless  enemies, 
who  were  joyful  enough,  though  we  were  desolate."  This  improvident 
waste  of  food  was  characteristic  of  the  savages,  who  shortly  after  were 
nearly  starved. 

Suffering  from  the  wound  in  her  side,  Mrs.  Rowlandson  was  obliged 
to  carry  her  more  severely  wounded  child,  who,  being  upwards  of  six 
years  of  age,  was  a  heavy  burden  for  her.  The  Indians  permitted  her 
to  ride  a  part  of  the  time,  but  otherwise  they  showed  no  pity  for  her 
sufferings  or  those  of  her  child.  Snow  fell,  and  at  night  the  unhappy 
captive  was  obliged  to  sit  down  in  the  snow  before  a  little  fire,  with 
a  few  boughs  behind  her  to  shelter  her  from  the  wintry  blast,  and  hold 
her  poor  fevered  child  through  the  long  weary  hours,  without  suste- 
nance, and  with  a  heavy  heart.  The  moaning  of  the  child  annoyed  the 
Indians,  and  one  after  another  came  to  her  and  told  her  that  her  master 
would  soon  come  and  knock  the  little  sufferer  on  the  head,  thus  adding 
to  the  grief  and  terror  of  the  wretched  mother.  The  threat,  however, 
was  not  carried  into  execution,  and  for  nine  days  the  poor  child  lin- 
gered, carried  constantly  in  her  mother's  arms,  and  receiving  no  suste- 
nance but  a  little  water,  while  she  daily  grew  weaker,  till  at  last  death 
put  an  end  to  her  sufferings.  The  Indians  buried  the  corpse,  and  had 
the  grace  to  show  the  mourning  mother  the  little  grave. 

Anxiety  for  her  children,  who  were  also  in  the  hands  of  the  savages, 
added  to  the  sorrows  of  her  captivity,  but  several  times  her  fears  for 
their  safety  were  relieved  by  brief  interviews  when  they  were  in  some 
neighboring  village.  The  Indians,  however,  were  always  jealous  of  such 
interviews,  and  if  any  tears  were  shed  were  especially  provoked,  and 
separated  the  captives  in  a  summary  manner. 

Not  long  after  Mrs.  Rowlandson's  capture  a  party  of  the  Indians 
went  to  make  an  attack  on  Medfield,  and  their  return  from  the  suc- 
cessful expedition  was  celebrated  with  savage  rejoicings.  "  They  began 


404  MRS.   ROWLANDSON'S   CAPTIVITT. 

their  din,"  says  the  narrative,  "  when  about  a  mile  distant.  O,  the  out- 
rageous roaring  and  whooping  that  there  was!  They  signified  by  their 
noise  and  whooping  how  many  were  destroyed,  which  was  twenty- 
three.  Those  who  were  with  us  at  home  were  gathered  together  as 
soon  as  they  heard  the  whooping,  and  every  time  the  others  went  over 
with  their  number,  those  at  home  gave  a  shout  that  made  the  very 
earth  ring  again.  And  thus  they  continued  to  do  until  those  who  had 
been  upon  the  expedition  arrived  at  the  sagamore's  wigwam;  then,  O, 
the  hideous  insulting  and  triumphing  there  was  over  some  English- 
men's scalps  they  had  taken ! "  But  though  this  triumph  of  the  savages 
over  her  countrymen  added  to  the  misery  of  the  captive,  it  brought  to 
her  a  source  of  consolation  which  sustained  her  through  all  her  trials. 
One  of  the  Indians  gave  her  a  Bible  which  was  among  his  plunder; 
and  cherishing  that  as  the  choicest  of  treasures,  with  pious  trust  in  its 
counsels  and  promises,  though  she  dared  to  read  it  only  in  secret,  she 
found  comfort  and  strength. 

The  party  of  Indians  with  whom  Mrs.  Rowlandson  was,  soon  after 
divided,  and  she  was  separated  from  her  fellow-captives,  among  whom 
were  her  daughter,  several  children  of  her  sisters,  and  one  of  her  neigh- 
bors, a  Mrs.  Joslin.  Upon  this  poor  Avoman  the  savages  afterwards 
indulged  their  cruelty  in  the  most  atrocious  manner.  She  had  with 
her  a  child  two  years  old,  and  was  soon  to  give  birth  to  another.  In 
her  anxiety  and  distress  she  begged  the  Indians  to  let  her  go  home, 
though  she  was  many  weary  miles  from  the  nearest  settlement.  Tired 
of  her  importunities,  they  gathered  a  large  company,  and  setting  her 
unclothed  in  the  midst,  they  danced  about  her  "  in  their  hellish  man- 
ner" for  a  long  time,  and  then  "knocked  her  and  the  child  in  her  arms 
on  the  head."  They  then  made  a  fire  and  put  both  the  victims  in  it, 
threatening  the  other  children,  who  with  trembling  witnessed  the  terrible 
scene,  to  serve  them  in  like  manner  if  they  attempted  to  go  home. 

One  or  two  other  vindictive  murders  of  unfortunate  prisoners  were 
perpetrated,  with  only  a  little  less  atrocity,  during  Mrs.  Rowlandson's 
captivity;  but  most  of  the  captives,  though  they  suffered  terrible  hard- 
ships, and  were  often  treated  with  great  cruelty,  were  spared  so  long 
as  they  did  not  murmur  or  sink  in  helpless  sickness.  There  were  some, 
however,  whose  fate  was  never  known;  and  whether  death  came  by 


STAR  VA  TION  AND    CR UEL  TT.  405 

the  hatchet  or  the  slower  attacks  of  disease  was  only  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. 

The  severest  suffering  endured  by  the  captives  was  the  want  of  food. 
The  Indians  themselves  were  often  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits,  and 
the  prisoners  fared  even  worse  than  their  captors.  The  food  of  the  sav- 
ages was  at  first  revolting  to  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  the 
dishes  of  civilized  life,  but  hunger  soon  made  the  small  quantities 
allowed  them  more  than  palatable.  But  even  these  unsavory  messes 
were  often  denied  them,  and  Mrs.  Rowlandson's  narrative  recounts 
many  occasions  when  a  few  kernels  of  corn,  or  four  or  five  ground- 
nuts, were  her  only  food  for  days  together.  A  piece  of  horse-liver,  which 
was  secreted  in  her  pocket  until  it  became  loathsomely  offensive,  in  order 
that  it  might  not  be  taken  from  her,  was  devoured  with  avidity,  and  a 
few  spoonfuls  of  weak  broth  made  from  horses'  feet,  which  was  grudg- 
ingly given  her,  was  thankfully  received  as  a  slight  relief  to  the  pangs 
of  hunger.  Oftentimes  she  carried  a  small  quantity  of  corn  or  peas  for 
her  mistress,  but  did  not  dare  to  partake  of  even  the  least  quantity,  lest 
she  should  provoke  the  wrath  of  the  squaw  and  be  treated  to  blows. 
Occasionally  Mrs.  Rowlandson  was  able  to  obtain  a  better  supply  of 
food  by  working  for  the  savages,  now  and  then  making  a  shirt  for  some 
young  Indian,  or  knitting  or  repairing  stockings,  for  which  she  was  paid 
by  a  gift  from  the  limited  stores  of  her  employers.  More  often,  how- 
ever, she  was  refused  even  the  meanest  allowance  from  the  food  pre- 
pared by  her  mistress,  though  her  master  was  more  generously  disposed. 
Sometimes,  driven  with  threats  of  violence  from  the  cabin,  she  was 
obliged  to  seek  shelter  and  food  elsewhere;  and  though  she  was  refused 
admittance  to  most  of  the  neighboring  wigwams,  she  found  that  not  all  the 
Indians,  were  devoid  of  humanity,  and  she  was  sometimes  given  a  lodg- 
ing by  their  fire,  and  favored  with  a  pittance  of  food  by  those  who  had 
little  to  give.  Whenever  she  chanced  to  do  anything  that  offended  her 
captors,  she  was  treated  to  blows  or  other  punishment,  especially  at 
the  hands  of  her  mistress,  who  was  much  less  tolerant  than  her  master. 

Meanwhile  the  hopes  which  had  sustained  her  that  she  would  be 
rescued  by  the  colonial  troops,  released  on  the  payment  of  a  ransom, 
or  carried  to  Albany,  were  successively  disappointed,  and  she  began 
to  despair  of  ever  being  restored  to  civilized  life.  At  such  times  she 


406  MRS.   ROWLANDSON'S  CAPTIVITY. 

had  recourse  to  her  Bible,  which  she  cherished  with  the  greatest  care, 
concealing  it  from  the  jealous  eyes  of  the  Indians. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  she  met  King  Philip,  who  treated 
her  kindly  and  with  the  dignity  becoming  a  sachem.  At  his  request 
she  made  his  boy  a  shirt,  for  which  he  gave  her  a  shilling.  She  also 
made  him  a  cap,  and  for  payment  received  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the 
sachem.  But  the  dinner  was  no  very  generous  feast,  and  Philip  appar- 
ently fared  scarcely  better  than  his  half-famished  followers.  "  I  went," 
says  Mrs.  Rowlandson,  "  and  he  gave  me  a  pancake,  made  of  parched 
wheat  fried  in  bears'-grease,  about  as  large  as  my  two  fingers.  I  thought 
I  never  tasted  of  more  pleasant  food  in  my  life."  Philip's  example 
induced  other  Indians  to  employ  the  captive  in  needlework  or  knitting, 
and  she  was  thus  able  sometimes  to  obtain  a  better,  though  still  mea- 
gre supply  of  food. 

At  last  the  Indians  moved  eastward  towards  Wachusett,  and  soon 
the  captives  were  encouraged  with  the  hope  of  being  ransomed.  But 
the  journey  was  a  long  and  difficult  one,  with  frequent  halts  and  long 
delays,  and  a  constant  dearth  of  food.  The  Indians  often  had  recourse 
to  the  refuse  portions  of  dead  horses,  and  Mrs.  Rowlandson  was  only 
too  glad  to  partake  of  a  morsel  of  food  that  at  other  times  would  have 
been  nauseating.  The  hope  of  final  release,  however,  was  a  stronger 
sustenance  than  food.  On  one  occasion  her  heart  was  gladdened  by 
King  Philip,  who,  as  they  approached  Mount  Wachusett,  came  to  her, 
and  taking  her  hand,  said,  "  Two  weeks  more  and  you  shall  be  mis- 
tress again."  At  Wachusett  her  master,  who  had  been  absent  a  long 
time,  also  appeared,  and  Mrs.  Rowlandson  relates  an  incident  which 
illustrates  the  miserable  life  she  must  have  led  among  her  filthy  cap- 
tors. "  He  inquired  how  long  it  was  since  I  had  washed  me.  I  an- 
swered, not  for  months.  He  brought  some  water  and  told  me  to  wash, 
and  ordered  his  squaw  to  give  me  something  to  eat.  She  gave  me 
some  meat  and  some  beans,  and  a  small  ground-nut  cake.  I  was 
greatly  refreshed  by  this  kindness." 

Negotiations  for  the  release  of  the  captives  were  initiated  by  the 
Indians,  who  sent  runners  to  Boston  with  proposals  to  that  end.  The 
messengers  passed  to  and  fro  several  times,  and  at  last  Mr.  Hoar  was 
sent  as  agent  of  the  colonial  authorities  to  pay  the  ransom  demanded. 


THE   CAPTIVE  RANSOMED. 


407 


In  reply  to  inquiries  by  the  sagamores,  Mrs.  Rowlandson,  with  some 
misgivings  lest  she  should  name  too  little  for  their  acceptance,  or  too 
much  for  her  friends  to  raise,  named  twenty  pounds  as  the  sum  which 
her  husband  would  be  able  to  pay  for  her  release,  and  that  sum  was 
accepted.  After  some  delay  the  ransom  was  paid,  and  Mrs.  Rowland- 
son,  with  some  others,  was  restored  to  her  friends.  But  a  number  of 
the  captives  were  still  retained,  among  whom  were  Mrs.  Rowlandson's 
children,  the  prolonged  separation  from  whom,  with  a  knowledge  of 
what  they  must  continue  to  suffer,  clouded  the  joy  for  her  own  release. 
Happily  her  son  was  afterwards  redeemed  at  Portsmouth,  and  her 
daughter  at  Providence. 


XLVIII. 

CONTINUATION   AND   END   OF   THE  WAR. 
DEATH   OF   KING    PHILIP. 


|T  Lancaster,  the  Indians  would  doubtless  have  killed  or 
taken  captive  more  of  the  inhabitants  but  for  the  arrival 
of  Wads  worth,  who  had  marched  in  all  haste  from 
Marlborough.  With  his  small  force  he  compelled  the 
savages  to  retire.  Soon  after  the  town  was  abandoned, 
and  the  Indians  then  burned  the  remaining  houses. 
The  threat  to  attack  other  inland  settlements  was  soon 
carried  out.  Before  February  had  passed,  Sudbury  and 
Chelmsford  were  attacked,  some  of  the  houses  burned,  and  several  per- 
sons killed.  At  Medfield,  before  daybreak,  the  inhabitants  were  roused 
from  their  slumbers  by  the  war-whoop  of  the  savages,  who  burned 
half  the  town  and  killed  twenty  persons.  Mendon  had  been  deserted 
by  its  inhabitants,  but  their  vacant  houses  were  given  to  the  flames  by 
the  enemy.  Nor  were  the  operations  of  the  Indians  confined  to  these 
inland  towns:  a  hostile  band  came  suddenly  upon  Weymouth,  and 
burned  seven  or  eight  houses;  and  on  the  outskirts  of  Plymouth  eleven 
whites  were  massacred. 

The  Indians  now  appeared  in  various  other  quarters.  Groton  was 
attacked,  and  all  its  houses  burned,  though  only  one  of  its  inhabitants 
was  killed.  At  the  same  time  an  attack  was  made  on  Northampton, 
but  was  repulsed  with  some  loss  on  both  sides.  Immediately  after  the 
savages  appeared  at  Warwick,  in  Rhode  Island,  and  destroyed  all  the 
houses  but  one,  and  the  destruction  of  all  the  outlying  houses  in  that 
region  followed.  While  the  good  people  of  Marlborough  were  at 

408 


FRONTIER    TOWNS  ATTACKED.  409 

church,  the  Indians  came  suddenly  from  their  hiding-places  and  burned 
the  town,  so  that  it  was  also  abandoned.  At  the  same  time  a  force 
of  fifty  whites  and  twenty  friendly  natives,  who  were  sent  by  the 
Plymouth  government  to  protect  their  frontier,  were  lured  into  an  am- 
bush by  Canonchet,  the  Narragansett  sachem,  and  his  followers,  and  all 
the  English  save  one,  and  half  the  friendly  Indians,  were  killed.  Im- 
mediately afterwards  forty  houses  were  burned  at  Rehoboth,  and  nearly 
as  many  more  in  Providence. 

All  through  the  spring  the  Indians  continued  their  work  of  destruc- 
tion. Appearing  in  various  quarters,  watching  the  habits  of  the  people, 
and  falling  suddenly  upon  the  villages,  they  plundered  and  burned  the 
houses,  and  killed  or  captured  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  they  could 
surprise.  Seekonk,  Wrentham,  Middleborough,  and  even  Plymouth 
suffered  in  this  way,  while  in  the  interior,  Andover,  Sudbury,  and 
Chelmsford  met  with  like  misfortune.  But  the  colonial  governments 
were  not  idle,  and  in  Massachusetts  especially  great  efforts  were  made 
to  raise  forces  to  stop  the  ravages  of  the  Indians.  Men  were  impressed 
into  the  military  service  under  the  most  stringent  laws,  and  all  possible 
means  were  adopted  to  put  an  adequate  army  into  the  field. 

Resuming  the  offensive,  the  colonial  forces  soon  obtained  some  im- 
portant advantages  over  the  Indians.  A  Connecticut  force,  under  Cap- 
tain Denison,  moving  into  the  Narragansett  country,  fell  in  with  the 
party  who  had  returned  from  the  massacre  of  the  Plymouth  force  above 
mentioned,  and  killed  and  captured  a  considerable  number.  Among  the 
prisoners  was  the  sachem,  Canonchet,  whose  treachery  was  deemed 
worthy  of  death,  and  he  was  accordingly  delivered  over  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Mohegans.  Denison  achieved  other  successes,  and  ma- 
terially weakened  the  Narragansetts,  several  of  whose  chiefs  were  killed 
or  captured. 

Though  Marlborough  was  abandoned  by  its  inhabitants,  a  force  of 
seventy  men,  under  Captain  Wadsworth,  was  stationed  there  to  keep 
the  Indians  back  from  settlements  nearer  Boston.  Receiving  informa- 
tion that  the  savages  had  appeared  near  Sudbury,  Wadsworth  hastened 
in  the  night  to  the  relief  of  that  place.  In  the  morning  he  met  a  band 
of  about  a  hundred  Indians,  who  fled  before  his  attack.  He  pursued 
them  into  the  woods,  where  he  encountered  several  hundred  more,  who 

NO.  xi.  52 


4io  CONTINUATION  AND  END    OF  THE    WAR. 

attacked  him  fiercely.  Retiring  to  a  hill,  he  kept  up  the  contest  through 
the  day,  killing  many  of  the  enemy.  But  the  Indians  were  too  numer- 
ous for  his  small  force,  which  grew  weaker  from  the  loss  of  many 
men.  They  set  fire  to  the  dry  grass,  and  the  flames  spread  rapidly 
through  the  woods,  so  that  with  the  smoke  and  heat  the  English  were 
nearly  blinded  and  suffocated.  The  Indians,  taking  advantage  of  this, 
redoubled  the  fury  of  their  attack,  and  at  last  the  little  force  was 
obliged  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  Only  twenty  of  them  escaped;  more 
than  forty  were  slain,  among  whom  were  Wadsworth  and  his  lieuten- 
ant; while  five  or  six  were  taken  prisoners,  to  be  tortured  to  death  in 
the  most  cruel  manner. 

A  month  later,  after  a  number  of  unimportant  skirmishes  at  the  out- 
posts of  the  troops  stationed  along  the  Connecticut  River,  another  severe 
conflict,  with  varied  success,  took  place  near  the  falls  above  Greenfield. 
An  escaped  prisoner  brought  intelligence  that  a  large  number  of  Indians 
were  planting  and  fishing  in  that  vicinity;  and  Captain  Turner,  who 
commanded  the  colonial  forces  in  the  upper  towns,  determined  to  attack 
them.  Taking  a  hundred  and  eighty  mounted  men,  after  a  night  march 
of  twenty  miles,  he  came  upon  an  Indian  camp  just  at  daylight.  The 
camp  was  so  situated  that  it  was  necessary  to  dismount  and  make  the 
attack  on  foot.  Leaving  their  horses  where  they  could  not  be  seen  by 
the  unsuspecting  savages,  the  party  advanced  in  silence  to  the  edge  of 
the  camp,  and  then  poured  into  the  wigwams  a  volley  of  musketry. 
The  surprise  was  complete,  and  the  Indians,  unprepared  to  resist,  sought 
safety  in  flight,  but  many  of  them  were  killed  as  they  rushed  pell-mell 
from  their  cabins.  The}'  crowded  to  the  river,  and  some  escaped  in 
canoes,  while  others,  attempting  to  swim  across,  were  carried  over  the 
falls  and  drowned.  Meanwhile  the  troops  kept  up  a  constant  fire  upon 
them,  and  many  were  shot  on  the  banks  of  the  river  and  in  the  water. 
Three  hundred  Indians  perished  in  this  successful  attack;  and  the  sol- 
diers completed  their  victory  by  setting  fire  to  the  cabins  and  destroy- 
ing the  stores  which  the  savages  had  collected  in  preparation  of  another 
raid.  The  colonial  troops  lost  but  one  man  in  the  conflict.  From 
that  day  the  place  has  been  known  as  "  Turner's  Falls,"  in  honor  of 
the  commander. 

But  this  victory  was   too    soon    followed  by  a  reverse.      The    firing 


FAILURE   OF  THE  INDIANS. 


411 


was  heard  by  another  body  of  Indians  not  far  away,  and  they  hastened 
to  the  scene  of  the  conflict.  The  troops  soon  found  themselves  attacked 
by  a  large  number  of  the  savages,  and  they  were  obliged  to  retreat, 
fortunately  reaching  their  horses  before  they  were  discovered  by  the 
enemy.  They  hastened  back  towards  the  settlements,  but  the  Indians 
followed,  and  swarmed  along  the  line  of  their  march.  An  Indian  pris- 
oner told  them  that  Philip  was  in  pursuit  with  a  thousand  men,  and 
this  intelligence  created  a  panic.  Captain  Holyoke,  the  second  in  com- 
mand, protected  the  rear  of  the  flying  column,  and  achieved  distinction 
by  the  skill  with  which  he  held  the  enemy  in  check.  But  the  savages 
pressed  so  closely  that  the  troops  broke  up  into  small  parties,  one  of 
which  was  cut  to  pieces  in  a  swamp,  and  another  was  captured  and 
reserved  for  a  more  cruel  fate.  Turner  was  killed  on  the  way,  and 
the  command  devolved  upon  Holyoke,  who  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
force  back  to  Hatfield  with  a  loss  of  forty  men. 

Encouraged  by  their  success,  the  Indians  soon  after  made  an  attack 
on  Hatfield,  and  burned  several  buildings;  but  a  small  force  coming  to 
the  relief  of  the  town,  the  assailants  were  driven  off.  A  little  later, 
seven  hundred  Indians  made  a  similar  attempt  on  Hadley.  Their  attack 
was  planned  with  some  skill:  while  one  party  made  an  open  assault 
on  one  side  of  the  settlement,  another  lay  in  ambush  on  the  opposite 
side,  ready  to  fall  upon  the  flying  inhabitants.  But  there  was  a  con- 
siderable force  in  the  place,  and  as  the  Indians  gained  an  entrance 
within  the  palisades  with  which  some  of  the  houses  were  surrounded, 
a  cannon  quickly  put  them  to  flight. 

Suffering  for  want  of  any  considerable  supply  of  food,  the  Indians 
were  unable  to  continue  a  campaign  in  which  they  had  suffered  heavy 
losses,  and  they  broke  up  into  small  parties.  Their  loss  at  Turner's 
Falls  was  a  severe  blow,  and  previous  to  the  attack  on  Hadley 
they  had  met  with  reverses  near  Brookfield,  where  the  colonial  forces 
took  a  considerable  number  of  prisoners,  while  in  several  minor  con- 
flicts many  of  them  had  bean  killed  or  severely  wounded.  With  their 
limited  numbers  these  losses  had  seriously  reduced  their  strength,  and 
they  began  to  tire  of  a  war  carried  on  by  the  whites  in  a  manner  so 
contrary  to  Indian  habits.  Philip  and  his  followers  made  their  way 
back  to  the  region  where  they  had  long  dwelt.  The  proud  sachem, 


412 


CONTINUATION  AND  END    OF  THE    WAR. 


though  discouraged  by  his  want  of  success  where  he  had  promised  so 
much,  was  not  yet  disposed  to  make  peace.  The  fate  of  Canonchet 
told  him  that  he  had. nothing  to  hope  from  the  English  if  he  surren- 
dered, and,  full  of  bitterness,  he  resolved  to  attack  and  burn  yet  a  few 
more  towns. 

A  negro  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  Philip's  men,  and  who 
understood  their  language,  heard  them  planning  an  attack  on  Taunton. 
Making  his  escape,  he  communicated  the  intelligence  to  the  people  of 
that  town.  A  force  was  promptly  sent  to  its  defence;  and  when  the 
savages  came,  they  succeeded  in  firing  only  two  houses  before  they 
were  put  to  flight. 

It  was  Philip's  last  campaign.  His  men  were  pursued  and  defeated 
on  all  sides,  and  in  despair  he  retired  to  the  woods  of  Mount  Hope. 
Chafing  under  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  colonists,  he  had  persuaded 
the  most  formidable  tribes  of  his  countrymen  to  join  him  in  an  attempt 
to  throw  off  a  yoke  which  was  becoming  irksome.  Ignorant  how  much 
the  colonists  exceeded  his  race  in  numbers,  and  the  strength  which 
civilization  gives,  with  the  aid  of  fire-arms  he  had  counted  on  success. 
But  the  Nipmucks  had  been  decimated,  the  strength  of  the  Narragan- 
setts  had  been  completely  broken,  and  the  tribes  of  the  Connecticut  had 
suffered  heavy  losses.  And  now  these  allies  had  deserted  him,  some  to 
surrender  to  the  English,  and  others  to  seek  refuge  and  food  in  remote 
quarters.  Even  among  his  own  followers  there  were  traitors;  and  when 
with  the  remnant  of  his  tribe  he  returned  to  the  home  of  his  fathers, 
there  were  some  who  were  ready  to  make  peace  for  themselves  by 
betraying  him. 

Captain  Church,  with  a  force  from  Plymouth,  had  pursued  Philip's 
men,  taking  many  prisoners,  among  whom  were  the  sachem's  wife  and 
son.  With  his  few  remaining  followers  the  defeated  chief  was  shut 
up  at  Mount  Hope,  the  English  holding  the  isthmus,  which  afforded 
the  only  escape  by  land.  One  of  his  tribe  at  this  time,  to  avenge  the 
murder  of  a  brother  by  Philip,  offered  to  .lead  the  colonial  troops  to 
the  sachem's  hiding-place.  Under  the  guidance  of  this  Indian,  Church 
marched  a  party  of  soldiers  by  night  to  the  vicinity  of  Philip's  camp, 
and  concealed  them  in  the  bushes  at  such  points  as  the  Indians  would 
be  likely  to  pass.  When  morning  disclosed  the  presence  of  this  force, 


DEATH    OF    KING    PHILIP. 


DEATH  OF  KING   PHILIP. 

the  panic-stricken  natives  rushed  in  disorder  from,  their  camp  to  escape 
through  the  surrounding  line,  and  many  of  them  fell  under  the  heavy 
fire  of  the  English.  Near  one  of  the  paths,  Church  had  posted  one  of 
his  soldiers  and  a  friendly  Indian.  As  the  surprised  Indians  sought 
safety  in  flight,  Philip,  half  dressed,  came  running  at  full  speed  along 
this  path.  Both  men  levelled  their  pieces  at  him.  The  Englishman's 
gun  missed  fire,  but  the  Indian's  took  effect.  Philip  fell  dead  with  a 
bullet  through  his  heart.  His  hands  were  cut  off  and  sent  to  Boston, 
and  his  head,  exposed  on  a  pole,  cheered  a  public  thanksgiving  in 
Plymouth. 

With  Philip's  death  the  war  was  well-nigh  ended.  Of  the  remnants 
of  his  tribe  who  had  escaped,  some  were  pursued  and  killed,  captured, 
or  driven  to  seek  refuge  with  the  Mohawks,  while  others  voluntarily 
surrendered.  Peace  was  once  more  established  in  Massachusetts  and 
Plymouth,  though  the  eastern  tribes,  prompted  by  Philip's  bad  ex- 
ample, still  waged  a  cruel  war  in  Maine.  During  the  war  ten  or 
twelve  towns  in  these  two  colonies  had  been  wholly  destroyed,  and 
forty  others  had  been  more  or  less  damaged  by  fire.  Five  or  six  hun- 
dred men,  besides  many  women  and  children,  had  been  massacred,  or 
fallen  in  battle,  or  carried  into  captivity  from  which  few  escaped.  Every 
town  was  filled  with  mourners;  and  though  Philip  had  failed  in  his 
purpose,  he  had  inflicted  a  terrible  blow  upon  the  colonists.  He  had 
called  into  action  the  bloodthirstiness,  the  treachery,  the  cruelty,  all  the 
evil  passions  of  the  savages,  and  let  them  loose  upon  the  defenceless 
homes  of  the  settlers.  Thus  inflamed  to  madness,  the  barbarians  had 
shot  unsuspecting  men,  applied  the  torch  to  dwellings,  torn  wives  from 
their  husbands  and  children  from  their  mothers,  and  doomed  them  to 
the  most  cruel  tortures  of  body  and  mind.  They  had  dashed  out  the 
brains  of  babes,  and  with  slow  fires  had  burned  their  wounded  cap- 
tives. They  had  carried  away  into  a  captivity  from  which  they  never 
returned,  children  whose  hard  and  unknown  fate  was  to  their  parents 
worse  than  death.  Every  evil  that  the  cruelty  and  vindictiveness  of 
savages  could  invent  was  practised  in  their  warfare.  Bereavement,  loss 
of  homes,  ruin,  wounds,  were  the  dire  results  of  such  warfare  to  a 
large  number  of  the  whites.  But  upon  his  own  race  Philip  had  brought 
a  retribution  not  less  terrible. 


XLIX. 

MASSACRES   AND    CAPTIVITIES. 


j ING  PHILIP'S  war  brought  to  the  New  England  col- 
onists their  first  experiences  in  Indian  warfare  and  cru- 
elty. For  a  long  time  afterwards,  with  intervals  of  quiet, 
the  frontier  settlements  were  subject  to  occasional  out- 
rages from  the  savages;  and  hostilities  with  the  French 
exposed  them  to  more  dangerous  and  fearful  attacks  from 
the  Indian  allies  of  the  enemy.  While  these  events 
generally  do  not  come  within  the  proposed  limits  of 
this  work,  a  few  incidents  in  the  history  of  one  of  the  frontier  towns 
will  illustrate  the  dangers  to  which  their  inhabitants  were  exposed,  and 
the  cruelty  they  suffered. 

Haverhill,  or  Pentucket,  as  the  locality  was  called  by  the  Indians, 
was  for  a  long  time  a  frontier  settlement.  To  the  north  and  west  there 
were  no  towns  between  it  and  the  wilderness  occupied  by  native  tribes, 
or  traversed  at  will  by  the  bands  of  Canadian  savages.  It  was  first  set- 
tled about  1640,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  century  it  was  a  some- 
what thriving  settlement,  containing  a  considerable  number  of  houses 
scattered  over  a  wide  tract,  on  which  were  some  good  farms.  During 
King  Philip's  war  the  town  escaped  any  general  attack,  though  several 
of  its  people  were  killed,  and  others  were  carried  into  captivity  by 
some  of  the  treacherous  "  praying  Indians "  who  dwelt  near  by.  For 
more  than  ten  years  afterwards  the  inhabitants  were  disturbed  by  noth- 
ing worse  than  theft  and  injury  to  property  by  the  Indians.  About  1688, 
however,  the  natives  again  indulged  in  hostilities,  and  small  parties 

414 


FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR. 


4*5 


hovered  around  Haverhill,  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  more 
exposed  houses  and  the  massacre  of  their  inmates.  For  the  protection 
of  the  people,  six  of  the  stronger  houses  were  garrisoned,  and  four 
others  were  designated  as  places  of  refuge  in  case  of  danger.  But 
though  in  constant  fear  of  an  attack,  the  people  of  Haverhill  were 
more  fortunate  than  some  of  the  towns  in  New  Hampshire  and  Maine. 

Between  1690  and  1697,  during  the  war  between  England  and  France 
known  as  King  William's  war,  and  during  Queen  Anne's  war  which 
soon  followed,  many  of  the  frontier  towns  towards  the  north  were  at- 
tacked by  roving  bands  of  Indians,  allies  of  the  French,  and  Haverhill 
at  last  did  not  escape.  This  war  was  waged  with  characteristic  cruelty 
by  the  Indians.  Infants  were  dispatched  with  hasty  cruelty,  but  older 
children,  who  were  able  to  travel  without  becoming  an  incumbrance, 
were  carried  away  to  be  adopted  into  the  tribe  and  grow  up  as  sav- 
ages. Some,  however,  were  carried  to  Canada,  where  they  were  ran- 
somed by  the  French,  and  placed  under  the  influence  of  priests  or 
nuns,  —  a  fate  which  was  as  deeply  deplored  by  their  Puritan  friends  as 
captivity  among  the  Indians.  Men  and  women  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  ransomed  by  the  French  generally  succeeded  in  returning 
to  their  homes. 

In  1694,  several  towns  in  New  Hampshire  were  attacked  by  a  for- 
midable force  of  Indians,  among  them  the  settlement  of  Oyster  River, 
or  Durham,  where  ninety  persons  were  killed  or  carried  away  as  pris- 
oners. The  people  of  Haverhill  expected  an  attack,  and  made  prep- 
arations for  defence,  but  they  experienced  no  more  serious  alarm  than 
that  created  by  a  sentinel  in  one  of  the  garrisons,  who,  during  his 
watch,  seeing  a  dark  object  near  the  house  supposed  it  was  an  Indian. 
He  promptly  discharged  his  musket  at  it,  and  the  rest  of  the  garrison, 
being  aroused,  fired  a  volley  at  the  suspicious  object.  But  no  more 
Indians  appeared,  and  this  one  must  certainly  be  dead,  though  he  ap- 
parently maintained  a  pretty  upright  position  for  a  man  pierced  by 
bullets.  In  the  morning  it  was  found  that  what  was  taken  for  a  prowl- 
ing Indian  was  an  innocent  black  petticoat  which  had  been  hung  out 
to  dry  the  previous  afternoon. 

It  was  not  till  1697  that  a  serious  attack  was  made  on  the  town. 
Early  in  March  of  that  year  a  band  of  Indians  appeared  suddenly  at 


MASSACRES  AND  CAPTIVITIES. 

Haverhill  and  attacked  some  of  the  more  exposed  houses,  killing  and 
taking  prisoners  about  forty  of  the  inmates,  and  burning  the  buildings. 
The  incidents  attending  the  movements  of  one  of  the  parties  of  assail- 
ants are  especially  memorable,  and  are  familiar  to  the  readers  of  New 
England  history.  As  this  party  advanced  from  one  scene  of  their 
cruel  exploits,  they  were  seen  by  Mr.  Dustan,  who  was  at  work  in 
his  field.  They  were  moving  towards  his  house,  and  while  they  were 
yet  at  some  distance  he  hastened  thither  with  the  hope  of  saving  his 
family  by  hurrying  them  to  a  garrisoned  house.  His  family  consisted 
of  his  wife,  who  was  in  bed  with  an  infant  only  a  week  old,  her  nurse, 
and  seven  other  children.  He  bade  the  children  fly  with  all  the  speed 
they  were  capable  of  in  the  direction  opposite  to  that  from  which  the 
Indians  were  approaching,  while  he  remained  to  assist  his  wife.  Al- 
ready the  yells  of  the  savages  were  heard  coming  nearer  and  nearer, 
and  before  Mrs.  Dustan  could  be  dressed  they  were  almost  at  the  door. 
Alone,  the  anxious  husband  could  not  defend  his  house,  and  it  was  too 
late  to  save  his  wife.  But  his  little  children,  who  were  flying  for  their 
lives,  might  yet  be  protected;  and  seizing  his  gun  he  hurried  from  the 
house,  mounted  his  horse,  and  followed  them.  The  yells  of  the  assail- 
ants told  him  that  they  saw  him  and  were  coming  in  pursuit.  Despair- 
ing of  saving  his  little  flock,  whom  he  saw  not  far  away  on  the  road  to  a 
place  of  refuge,  he  resolved  to  take  the  one  with  whom  he  was  most 
unwilling  to  part,  and  hasten  on,  leaving  the  rest  to  their  fate. 

The  youngest  was  but  five  years  old,  and  the  others,  notwithstand- 
ing their  fright,  unwilling  to  desert  their  pet,  had  adapted  their  speed  to 
the  steps  of  the  panting  little  one,  so  that  they  had  made  scanty  progress. 
When  the  anxious  father  came  up  with  them,  he  found  he  loved  them 
all  too  well  to  choose  only  one  for  safety,  —  that  each  was  too  dear 
for  him  to  leave  any  to  become  victims  to  the  merciless  savages,  while 
he  himself  escaped.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  defend  them  all,  or 
perish  with  them.  His  pursuers  had  already  commenced  firing  at  him. 
Encouraging  the  terrified  children  to  keep  on  at  their  utmost  speed,  he 
returned  the  fire,  and  reloading  his  gun  as  he  retreated,  he  kept  up  his 
fire  with  such  effect  that  he  held  the  cowardly  enemy  in  check.  Alter- 
nately firing  and  retreating,  as  fast  as  the  weary  limbs  of  the  little  ones 
could  carry  them,  he  kept  the  pursuers  at  bay,  and  notwithstanding  the 


MRS.   DUSTAN  A    CAPTIVE. 


417 


repeated  discharge  of  their  guns,  both  he  and  the  children  fortunately 
escaped  all  injury.  At  last,  after  a  flight  of  more  than  a  mile,  the 
fugitives  reached  a  fortified  house  where  they  happily  found  safety; 
and  the  Indians,  never  anxious  to  attack  unless  they  greatly  outnum- 
bered their  opponents,  withdrew  to  plunder  and  burn  the  houses  they 
had  already  taken. 

While  one  party  of  the  Indians  had  thus  pursued  Mr.  Dustan  and 
his  children,  another  entered  the  house,  where  they  found  Mrs.  Dustan 
partially  dressed,  and  the  nurse  preparing  to  fly  with  the  infant.  With 
fierce  threats  they  compelled  the  terrified  women  to  quit  the  house 
without  further  preparation,  and  hurried  them  away  to  join  a  number 
of  other  prisoners.  The  hostile  band  had  now  accomplished  all  they 
could  without  resistance,  and,  Indian  fashion,  they  withdrew  as  sud- 
denly as  they  had  come.  With  their  captives  they  began  their  march  into 
the  wilderness.  Mrs.  Dustan  was  a  woman  of  strong  will,  and  not- 
withstanding her  feeble  condition,  her  terror,  and  her  anxiety  for  her 
children,  she  bore  up  with  remarkable  energy.  The  terrible  position 
in  which  she  found  herself  seemed  to  give  her  strength  rather  than 
weaken  her.  Partially  clad,  with  one  of  her  feet  bare,  she  travelled  on 
through  alternate  snow  and  mud,  in  the  chilly  wind  of  March,  enduring 
hardships  under  which  captives  of  more  robust  health  and  apparent  vigor 
often  succumbed. 

She  was  soon  compelled  to  endure  a  greater  cruelty  than  travelling 
barefooted  through  the  slush  and  mud,  under  the  taunts  of  her  inso- 
lent captors.  The  nurse  carried  the  infant,  but  they  had  not  proceeded 
far  before  an  Indian,  who  was  annoyed  by  its  cries,  seized  it,  and  before 
its  mother's  eyes  dashed  its  head  against  a  tree.  The  terror  and  anguish 
of  the  mother  at  this  sight  may  be  imagined,  but  her  very  terror  gave 
her  strength  to  continue  the  march.  And  it  was  well  that  it  did,  for 
the  Indians,  impatient  at  delays,  summarily  tomahawked  those  who 
lagged  behind.  Notwithstanding  her  feeble  condition  and  the  fatiguing 
march  through  snow  and  mud,  Mrs.  Dustan  bore  up  with  remarkable 
vigor,  sleeping  on  the  cold  ground  with  no  protection  but  a  few  pine 
boughs,  and  having  little  food  to  sustain  her.  Her  nurse  fortunately 
showed  a  similar  endurance.  Fear  gave  them  strength,  for  they  knew 
that  a  show  of  weakness  or  exhaustion  would  insure  a  speedy  death. 

NO.  xi.  53 


418  MASSACRES  AND   CAPTIVITIES. 

After  travelling  several  days  over  rocky  hills  and  through  miry 
swamps,  the  party  reached  the  wigwam  of  the  Indian  who  claimed 
them  as  his  captives.  Here  in  the  crowded  cabin  they  remained  some 
time,  during  which  the  prisoners  recovered  from  their  fatigue.  In  the 
month  of  April  the  Indians,  twelve  in  number,  two  athletic  men,  three 
women,  and  seven  children  of  various  ages,  set  out  for  a  more  distant 
settlement  of  their  tribe,  carrying  their  captives  with  them.  The  unfor- 
tunate women  were  informed  by  the  Indians,  with  evident  satisfaction, 
that  upon  their  arrival  at  this  settlement  they  would  be  obliged  to  run 
the  gantlet,  naked,  between  two  files  of  Indians,  the  entire  population 
of  the  town  forming  on  either  side,  and  scourging  them  as  the}'  ran. 
This  cruel  treatment  of  captives  was  customary  with  some  of  the  na- 
tive tribes,  and  often  ended  in  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  victims. 
The  dread  of  this  ordeal  determined  the  women  to  attempt  to  escape 
before  it  was  too  late.  But  how  to  do  so  was  a  difficult  question  to 
decide.  Should  they  steal  away  and  seek  safety  in  flight,  the  more 
fleet-footed  Indians  would  soon  overtake  them  and  bring  them  back  to 
suffer  tortures  all  the  more  cruel.  If  they  sought  to  conceal  them- 
selves, the  cunning  savages  would  be  sure  to  track  them  to  their  hiding- 
place.  There  was  no  safety  so  long  as  there  were  any  savages  to  pursue; 
and  Mrs.  Dustan,  in  her  extreme  horror  at  her  impending  fate,  was 
nerved  with  a  desperate  resolution. 

Besides  the  two  women,  the  Indians  had  another  captive,  a  boy,  who 
had  been  their  prisoner  for  a  longer  time,  and  had  with  the  facility  of 
youth  become  familiar  with  their  habits,  and  somewhat  reconciled  to 
his  condition.  Mrs.  Dustan  desired  this  boy  to  ask  his  master  where 
was  the  proper  place  to  strike  a  person  on  the  head  to  insure  death, 
and  how  to  take  off"  a  scalp.  The  Indian,  who  was  probably  pleased 
with  the  boy's  apparent  desire  to  become  proficient  in  savage  arts,  will- 
ingly imparted  the  desired  information.  It  was  secretly  communicated 
to  Mrs.  Dustan,  who  resolved  to  profit  by  it  at  once. 

The  savages  evidently  had  no  fears,  now  that  they  were  in  the  depths 
of  the  wilderness,  that  their  captives  would  attempt  to  escape,  and  at 
night  they  all  slept  without  leaving  any  one  of  their  number  to  watch. 
Around  the  fire  over  which  they  had  cooked  their  evening  meal  they 
stretched  themselves  to  rest.  The  captives  also  lay  down  according  to 


MRS.  DUSTAN' S  EXPLOIT. 

their  custom,  but  not  to  sleep.  Mrs.  Dustan  had  imparted  to  them  her 
desperate  purpose,  and  they  lay  quietly,  but  anxiously  listening  for  the 
heavy  breathing  which  should  tell  that  the  savages  were  in  a  deep 
sleep,  made  more  heavy  by  draughts  of  "fire-water"  in  which  they  had 
indulged.  The  moment  for  action  had  come,  and  Mrs.  Dustan  cau- 
tiously roused  her  companions.  Taking  a  hatchet  which  lay  beside  the 
sleeping  Indians,  she  stepped  softly  among  them,  and  by  the  faint  light 
of  the  flickering  brands,  dealt  a  fatal  blow  upon  one  and  then  another, 
so  quietly  and  surely  that  they  made  no  struggle.  The  nurse  and  the 
boy  followed  her  example,  and  the  three  had  dispatched  nearly  all  when 
a  groan  from  one  of  the  victims  aroused  two  of  the  sleepers,  one  of 
whom  was  a  woman,  and  the  other  a  small  boy  whom  they  pro- 
posed to  spare.  The  woman  was  wounded,  and  both  fled  in  terror 
into  the  woods. 

Mrs.  Dustan  in  her  desperation  had  imbibed  the  spirit  of  a  savage, 
and  in  order  to  prove  her  terrible  work,  with  the  aid  of  her  compan- 
ions she  proceeded  to  take  the  scalps  from  her  fallen  foes.  There  were 
ten  of  them,  and  with  these  bloody  trophies  they  started,  taking  a  gun 
and  ammunition  belonging  to  one  of  the  dead  Indians,  and  such  small 
supply  of  food  as  they  could  hastily  snatch  from  the  pouches  of  their 
victims.  With  all  speed  they  travelled  towards  the  Merrimac,  and 
thence  down  its  banks  till  they  found  a  canoe.  Fear,  lest  the  woman 
who  escaped  should  alarm  some  of  the  natives  and  cause  pursuit, 
added  to  the  speed  of  their  flight.  They  were  so  fortunate,  how- 
ever, as  to  escape  pursuit,  and  not  to  fall  in  with  any  wandering 
party  of  Indians.  They  embarked  in  the  canoe,  and  floating  down 
the  river  at  last  reached  Haverhill,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  their 
friends  and  neighbors,  who  had  supposed  them  killed.  Mrs.  Dustan 
had  also  feared  that  her  husband  and  children  had  been  butchered  by 
the  Indians,  and  the  joy  with  which  they  met  again  may  be  imagined. 
The  bloody  scalps  were  exhibited  as  a  proof  of  the  remarkable  exploit, 
which  was  noised  through  all  the  colonies,  and  brought  to  Mrs.  Dustan 
many  congratulations.  The  General  Court,  in  acknowledgment  of  her 
bravery  and  the  hardships  she  had  endured,  gave  her  twenty-five  pounds, 
and  divided  between  her  companions  a  like  sum.  In  later  years  a 
monument  in  commemoration  of  her  heroism  has  been  erected  at 
Haverhill. 


420  MASSACRES  AND  CAPTIVITIES. 

Some  years  after  the  exploit  of  Mrs.  Dustan,  in  1708,  Haverhill  was 
again  attacked  by  a  band  of  French  and  Indians.     They  appeared  sud- 
denly at  dawn  of  day  in  the  village,  and  separated  into  several  parties 
the  more  quickly  to  dispatch  their  bloody  work.      They  had  been  seen 
by  one  of  the  inhabitants  who  was  abroad  early,  and   he  had  fired  his 
gun  to  alarm  his  neighbors.     Though  they  had   feared  such  an   attack, 
and    some   of  the   houses  were   "garrisoned"  by  three   or   four   soldiers 
each,  all  seem  to  have  slept  as  if  there  were  no  danger,  and  the  sav- 
ages were  at  their  work  before  they  were  aroused.     Having  killed  one 
woman  as  she  fled  to  one  of  the  garrisoned  houses,  the  foremost  party 
next  made   an   attack   on  the   house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rolfe,  the  minis- 
ter of  the  town.      Mr.  Rolfe  and   his   family  were    aroused    from    their 
slumbers    by    the    yells    of   the    savages.      Springing    from  his  bed,    he 
placed  himself  against  the  outer  door,  upon  which  the  assailants  were 
already  beating,  at  the  same  time  calling  upon  three  soldiers,  placed  in 
the  house  to  defend  it,  to   come  to  his   assistance.     But  these   cowards 
were  paralyzed  with  fear,  and  instead  of  making  any  attempt  to  defend 
the   house,  threw  up  their  arms   in   despair.      The    Indians,  who    might 
have   been  driven  off  by  these  poltroons  had  they  shown  any  courage, 
fired  two  shots  through  the  door,  one  of  which  wounded  Mr.  Rolfe  in 
the  elbow.      Unable  longer,  in  consequence  of  pain  and  exhaustion,  to 
hold  the  door  against  the  assailants,  he  fled  through  the  house  and  out 
the  rear  door,  pursued  by  the  Indians,  who  overtook  him    at   the  well 
and    killed   him.      Others   of  the  savages   entering  the  house,  soon  dis- 
covered   Mrs.   Rolfe  with    an    infant    child,    and    while    one    buried    his 
hatchet    in  the   head   of  the   mother,  another    dashed  the    infant's    head 
against  a  stone. 

The  other  children  of  Mr.  Rolfe  were  preserved  by  the  prompt 
action  of  a  negro  servant,  who  at  the  first  alarm  carried  them  to  the 
cellar,  where  she  covered  each  with  a  large  tub  and  then  concealed 
herself.  The.  enemy  did  not  overlook  the  cellar,  but  plundered  it  of 
everything  valuable,  and  repeatedly  passed  the  tubs  under  which  the 
children  were  concealed,  and  took  meat  from  a  barrel  behind  which 
the  black  girl  was  hiding,  but  fortunately  none  were  discovered  in  the 
dim  light  of  the  place.  Another  girl,  who  was  an  inmate  of  the  house, 
also  escaped  by  hiding  in  a  chest.  The  cowardly  soldiers,  however, 


HA  VERHILL  A  GAIN  A  TTA  CKED. 


421 


seem  not  to  have  had  sufficient  energy  to  attempt  to  save  themselves, 
and  they  were  soon  dispatched  by  the  Indians. 

Meanwhile  the  other  parties  of  savages  were  at  work.  Mr.  Benja- 
min Hartshorne,  seeing  one  of  them  approaching  his  house,  started  out, 
followed  by  his  three  sons,  to  call  assistance,  but  every  one  of  them 
was  killed.  His  wife,  with  three  or  four  other  children,  was  left  de- 
fenceless in  the  house,  but  with  great  presence  of  mind  took  her  chil- 
dren, except  an  infant,  whose  cries  she  feared  might  reveal  their 
hiding-place,  and  descended  through  a  trap-door  into  the  cellar,  care- 
fully closing  it  after  her.  There  they  remained  undisturbed  while  the 
Indians  plundered  the  house  above.  The  infant  was  left  on  a  bed  in 
the  garret,  and  when  the  savages  discovered  it,  they  tossed  it  out  the 
window.  But,  fortunately,  under  the  window  there  was  a  pile  of  clap- 
boards, on  which  the  child  so  fell  that  it  was  not  seriously  injured, 
and  lived  to  become  a  stalwart  man. 

Other  houses  were  attacked  by  similar  parties  of  the  savages,  and 
some  of  their  inmates  killed.  One  mother,  flying  from  the  house  where 
her  husband  had  been  shot,  with  her  infant  in  her  arms,  was  over- 
taken by  a  fierce  Indian  and  dispatched  by  a  blow  from  his  hatchet. 
With  a  mother's  instinct  she  fell  in  a  way  to  protect  her  child  from 
injury.  The  savage  unaccountably  passed  on  without  dashing  out  the 
child's  brains,  as  was  their  custom,  and  after  the  massacre  it  was  found 
alive  on  the  bosom  of  its  dead  mother. 

A  Mrs.  Wainwright  successfully  resorted  to  artifice  to  save  her  fam- 
ily. The  house  was  garrisoned  by  several  soldiers,  who,  in  the  cham- 
bers, were  preparing  to  defend  it;  but  Mrs.  Wainwright  boldly  unbarred 
the  door  and  let  the  Indians  in.  She  spoke  to  them  kindly,  and  offered 
to  furnish  them  with  whatever  they  desired.  The  ferocity  of  the 
Indians  was  overcome  by  their  amazement  at  this  conduct,  and  they 
attempted  no  violence.  They  had  learned  the  value  of  money,  and  they 
demanded  that  she  should  make  good  her  offer  by  furnishing  it.  She 
promised  to  bring  it,  and  being  permitted  to  retire  for  that  purpose, 
she  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  and  fled  from  the  house  with  all 
her  children  except  one  daughter,  who  unfortunately  was  left  behind, 
and  was  carried  away  to  a  captivity  from  which  she  never  returned. 
When  they  found  how  they  had  been  outwitted,  the  Indians  were 


MASSACRES  AND   CAPTIVITIES. 

greatly  enraged,  and  attacked  the  chambers  with  violence;  but  the  sol- 
diers succeeded  in  driving  them  away  and  extinguishing  the  fire  which 
they  had  kindled  for  the  destruction  of  the  house. 

Another  woman,  a  Mrs.  Swan,  exhibited  a  sterner  courage.  As  the 
Indians  approached,  Swan  and  his  wife  placed  themselves  against  the 
narrow  door  to  prevent  their  entrance,  hoping  to  keep  them  at  bay  till 
assistance  arrived,  and  thus  save  the  lives  of  their  children.  Finding 
the  door  was  not  easily  opened,  two  of  the  Indians  braced  themselves 
against  it  and  pushed  with  all  their  strength,  which  proved  too  great 
for  the  besieged.  The  door  yielded  a  little,  and  one  of  the  savages  was 
crowding  himself  in,  when  Mrs.  Swan,  knowing  if  they  gained  an  en- 
trance that  she,  and  her  husband,  and  little  ones  would  speedily  be 
butchered,  seized  a  long  spit,  such  as  was  used  in  those  days,  and  with 
all  her  strength  drove  it  through  the  body  of  the  foremost  Indian.  This 
unexpected  resistance  staggered  the  assailants.  The  wounded  savage, 
howling  with  pain,  hastily  retreated,  and  the  others  followed,  afraid  to 
encounter  so  formidable  a  weapon. 

Meanwhile  the  people  of  the  town  were  alarmed,  and  a  force  of 
armed  men  soon  gathered.  The  Indians  were  always  averse  to  a  pitched 
battle,  especially  with  anything  like  an  equal  force  to  oppose  them, 
and  the  French  who  were  with  them  do  not  appear  to  have  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  attack.  As  soon  as  organized  resistance  appeared, 
the  enemy  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  taking  with  them  a  number  of  prison- 
ers. The  Haverhill  men  pursued,  and  had  a  skirmish  in  which  they 
killed  several  of  the  Indians  and  retook  some  of  the  captives,  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  enemy  were  soon  beyond  pursuit. 

Such  was  the  fearful  warfare  waged  by  the  northern  tribes,  insti- 
gated by  the  French,  upon  the  frontier  settlements  of  New  England 
during  King  William's  war.  Deerfield,  Lancaster,  and  other  exposed 
towns  were  attacked,  and  suffered  in  a  similar  manner.  At  Deerfield 
and  Lancaster  the  French  were  as  numerous  as  their  Indian  allies,  and 
encouraged  the  latter  in  their  savage  and  cruel  practices.  The  settle- 
ments in  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  fared  even  worse."  The  events 
above  narrated  illustrate  the  dangers  to  which  all  these  frontier  settlers 
were  exposed,  and  the  endurance  and  heroism  displayed  even  by  the 
women  who  were  inured  to  the  hardships  of  the  early  days. 


THE  BOT  CAPTIVES. 


423 


The  sufferings  of  those  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  taken  cap- 
tive by  the  Indians  have  already  appeared  in  the  foregoing  narrative 
and  in  the  story  of  Mrs.  Rowlandson.  The  men  who  were  taken  were 
treated  with  the  greatest  cruelty,  and  were  in  many  cases  tortured  to 
death  or  summarily  dispatched  by  their  enraged  captors.  Women  fared 
a  little  better,  but  were  often  subjected  to  the  severest  trials  of  physical 
and  mental  endurance.  Children,  who  were  less  feared,  and  who  were 
less  likely  to  attempt  to  escape,  were  generally  spared  the  worst  inflic- 
tions of  savage  malignity,  and  were  sometimes  treated  with  such  kind- 
ness as  the  barbarous  life  of  the  natives  could  bestow.  But  even  this  was 
little  better  than  cruelty  to  those  who  were  torn  from  the  comforts  of 
a  civilized  home  and  the  love  and  tender  care  of  parents  and  friends. 
With  the  facility  of  youth  to  adapt  itself  to  circumstances,  captive  chil- 
dren sometimes  became  inured  to  Indian  life,  forgetting  the  habits  and 
affections  of  earlier  years,  and  becoming  little  better  than  savages. 
Dm'ing  the  French  and  Indian  war  many  were  carried  to  Canada, 
where  they  were  sold  to  the  French,  and  were  subsequently  ransomed 
and  restored  to  their  families.  A  few  escaped,  but  the  difficulties 
which  attended  any  attempt  to  fly  were  too  great  for  the  shrewdness 
and  skill  of  children  alone  to  overcome,  and  the  severe  punishment 
which  would  follow  failure  might  well  deter  stouter  hearts.  The  story 
is  told,  however,  of  two  boys  who  were  carried  off  from  Haverhill, 
who  outwitted  their  cunning  masters  and  found  their  way  back  through 
the  trackless  wilderness  to  their  homes. 

While  at  work  in  the  fields,  or  gathering  nuts  in  the  woods,  these 
boys,  Isaac  Bradley  and  Joseph  Whittaker,  were  surprised  by  a  roving 
band  of  Indians,  who,  without  committing  any  further  violence  by  which 
their  presence  might  have  been  known,  carried  them  rapidly  away. 
Isaac  was  fifteen  years  old,  rather  small  for  one  of  his  age,  but  strong 
and  active,  and  very  intelligent.  Joseph  was  several  years  younger,  and 
the  very  reverse  of  his  companion,  being  an  overgrown  boy,  clumsy  in 
his  movements,  and  lacking  energy  both  of  body  and  mind.  The  In- 
dians travelled  northward  with  their  captives  till  they  reached  Lake 
Winnipiseogee,  where  the  boys  were  taken  into  the  cabin  of  one  of 
their  captors.  Here  they  fared  as  well  as  the  Indians  themselves,  and 
were  not  ill  used,  according  to  the  standard  of  savage  life,  Isaac  being 
nursed  through  a  raging  fever  by  his  master's  squaw. 


424  MASSACRES  AND  CAPTIVITIES. 

Isaac  soon  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Indian  language;  and  one 
day  in  winter,  while  he  lay  convalescent  on  a  mat  before  the  fire,  he 
overheard  the  Indians  talking  of  going  to  Canada  in  the  spring  and 
taking  their  captives  with  them.  He  knew  little  of  geography,  and  less 
of  the  chances  of  escape  through  the  good  will  or  avarice  of  the  French 
who  might  buy  them;  but  he  knew  that  Canada  was  still  farther  from  his 
home  and  parents,  and  distance  seemed  to  render  their  captivity  more 
hopeless.  He  resolved  that  he  would  attempt  to  escape,  even  at  the 
peril  of  his  life,  and  from  that  time  forward  he  revolved  in  his  mind 
various  plans  by  which  he  could  accomplish  his  purpose. 

The  snows  were  fast  disappearing  even  in  the  shady  ravines,  and 
the  blue  waters  of  the  lake  appeared  in  the  broader  expanses  between 
its  many  islands;  and  Isaac  felt  that  he  had  no  time  to  lose,  for  the 
Indians  would  soon  be  moving  on  their  long  journey.  He  had  matured 
his  plan,  and  fixed  upon  a  night  for  putting  it  in  execution;  and  it  was 
not  till  the  day  before  the  appointed  night  that  he  told  his  fellow- 
captive  of  his  purpose.  Joseph  begged  that  he  might  go  with  him, 
and  not  be  left  alone  in  that  terrible  captivity.  But  he  was  a  heavy 
sleeper,  and  not  easily  aroiised,  and  Isaac  was  fearful  that  he  would 
not  awake  without  disturbing  their  Indian  master  or  his  squaw,  and 
thus  defeat  the  plan.  To  leave  him,  however,  if  the  plan  was  success- 
ful, would  be  cruel,  and  he  agreed  to  let  him  share  the  chances  of 
escape. 

At  night  the  whole  family  lay  down  to  sleep.  Joseph  was  soon 
snoring  lustily,  as  usual;  but  Isaac's  thoughts  were  full  of  his  scheme, 
with  its  difficulties  and  its  dangers,  and  he  lay  anxiously  waiting  for 
the  moment  when  he  could  attempt  its  execution.  At  last  the  heavy 
and  regular  breathing  of  the  Indians  assured  him  that  they  were  wrapped 
in  profound  slumber.  Rising  cautiously,  he  secured  his  master's  flint 
and  tinder  for  striking  a  light,  and  a  small  quantity  of  moose  meat,  the 
position  of  which  he  had  carefully  noted  the  evening  before,  and,  car- 
rying them  out  of  the  cabin,  concealed  them  in  some  bushes.  He  then 
returned  to  awake  Joseph,  who  was  still  sleeping  soundly,  and  cau- 
tiously shook  him.  But  the  tired  boy  had  in  his  sleep  forgotten  the 
scheme  which  had  so  engrossed  his  companion's  thoughts,  and  he  said, 
petulantly  and  aloud,  "What  do  you  want?"  Alarmed  lest  the  Indians 


PERILS  ESCAPED.  425 

• 

should  be  waked,  Isaac  lay  down  again  and  pretended  to  sleep  till  he 
felt  sure  that  they  were  unconscious  of  the  noise.  He  could  not 
relinquish  the  purpose  on  which  his  thoughts  had  so  long  dwelt,  and 
to  attempt  to  wake  Joseph  was  to  endanger  its  success,  and  might 
insure  a  fearful  punishment.  It  was  perhaps  the  last  and  only  chance 
he  would  have,  and  he  resolved  to  attempt  to  escape  alone.  He  stepped 
carefully  out  of  the  wigwam  and  proceeded  with  caution  to  the  place 
where  he  had  hidden  his  small  store  of  provisions.  The  waning  moon 
was  just  risen  above  the  hills,  and  afforded  light  sufficient  for  him  to 
find  his  way  without  difficulty,  and  he  determined  to  travel  with  all 
speed.  While  pausing  to  take  up  his  provisions  he  heard  footsteps,  and 
trembled  with  fear  as  he  supposed  his  design  had  been  thus  early  dis- 
covered. He  was  equally  surprised  and  relieved,  however,  to  see  Joseph 
approaching  alone.  The  latter  had  been  moved  by  some  mysterious 
influence  to  awake,  and  finding  his  companion  gone,  he  arose  and 
hastened  after  him. 

Listening  a  moment  to  learn  if  any  one  else  had  been  disturbed, 
the  two  then  started  on  their  perilous  journey.  They  knew  only  that 
they  must  travel  southward  through  the  pathless  forest,  and  in  that 
direction  they  hastened  on  with  speed  prompted  by  an  intense  desire 
to  escape,  and  fear  of  the  consequences  should  they  be  overtaken. 
They  thus  hurried  on  till  daylight,  when,  weary,  and  afraid  of  being 
seen  if  they  continued  their  journey,  they  concealed  themselves  in  a 
hollow  log.  Morning  was  not  far  advanced  when  they  heard  the  dis- 
tant barking  of  dogs,  which  gradually  came  nearer.  It  was  evident 
that  their  flight  had  been  discovered  and  the  Indians  were  in  pursuit. 
The  dogs  came  nearer,  and  at  last  made  a  stand  at  the  log  and  barked 
furiously.  Well  might  the  fugitives  be  terrified  at  the  threatened  dis- 
covery; but  Isaac  had  sufficient  presence  of  mind  to  speak  to  the  dogs, 
which  recognized  his  voice  and  ceased  barking.  He  then  threw  to 
them  the  moose-meat  to  distract  their  attention  from  the  hiding-place, 
and  they  were  busy  with  the  dainty  food  when  several  Indians  came 
along  and  passed  close  by  the  log  without  pausing  to  notice  the  dogs, 
or  examining,  with  their  usual  care,  for  the  trail  of  the  fugitives.  The 
dogs  soon  trotted  after  their  master,  and  the  terror  of  the  boys  subsided. 

Lying  in  the  log  through  the  day,  with  only  a  little  corn  bread  to 
NO.  xi.  54 


426  MASSACRES  AND   CAPTIVITIES. 

appease  their  hunger,  they  again  started  on  their  journey  at  night.  In 
the  darkness,  before  the  moon  rose,  they  travelled  with  much  difficulty, 
the  thick  bushes  tearing  their  flesh,  and  the  jagged  rocks  or  soft  mo- 
rasses delaying  their  weary  limbs.  At  daylight  they  again  found  a 
hiding-place,  and  through  the  day  they  rested,  and  slept  in  spite  of  their 
anxiety.  Night  called  them  again  to  pursue  their  journey,  and  hope 
and  fear  alike  urged  them  on.  They  now  believed  that  pursuit  had 
been  abandoned,  though  there  was  still  danger  of  meeting  some  roving 
band  of  natives,  who  would  surely  carry  them  back  to  captivity,  and 
perhaps  to  death.  But  they  were  so  anxious  to  hurry  on  that  they 
travelled  day  and  night,  pausing  to  rest  only  when  their  weary  and 
mangled  limbs  refused  to  carry  them.  Their  moose-meat  had  been 
sacrificed  to  quiet  the  dogs,  and  their  bread  had  been  soon  exhausted; 
but  they  killed  a  pigeon,  and  captured  a  turtle,  both  of  which  they 
were  compelled  to  devour  raw.  These,  with  roots  and  buds,  were  all 
the  sustenance  they  had;  and  the  pangs  of  hunger  were  added  to  the 
pains  of  lacerated  and  swollen  limbs,  and  they  grew  weaker  day  by 
day.  But  thoughts  of  home,  and  the  hope  of  again  seeing  their  par- 
ents, and  brothers,  and  sisters,  sustained  them,  and  they  persevered  in 
making  short  stages  till  the  eighth  day  of  their  flight.  Then  the  younger 
boy  could  travel  no  farther.  Weary  with  the  long  and  laborious  jour- 
ney, and  weak  from  the  want  of  food,  his  limbs  refused  to  carry  him, 
and  he  no  longer  had  the  will  to  proceed.  Isaac,  whose  native  energy 
still  sustained  his  weakened  body,  endeavored  to  encourage  him.  He 
dug  roots  for  him  to  eat,  and  brought  water  for  him  to  drink,  but  the 
poor  boy  was  too  feeble  in  mind  and  body  to  be  aroused  to  any  fur- 
ther effort.  He  lay  down  in  apathetic  despair;  and  Isaac,  —  unable  to 
help  him,  and  feeling  that  he,  too,  must  succumb  if  he  did  not  soon 
find  help,  —  with  a  sorrowful  heart  left  his  companion,  hoping  against 
hope  that  some  relief  might  yet  reach  him  before  it  was  too  late. 

They  had  for  several  days  been  following  a  stream  which  Isaac 
knew  must  eventually  lead  to  the  sea-coast,  where  he  might  hope  to 
reach  some  settlement.  Alone  he  now  proceeded  along  its  banks,  sor- 
rowing for  his  helpless  companion,  and  with  a  will  much  stronger  than 
his  weary  limbs.  He  had  not  travelled  far  before  he  saw,  at  some 
distance,  a  newly-raised  frame  of  a  building.  Rejoiced  at  this  discov- 


SAFETY  AT  LAST. 


427 


ery,  which  told  him  that  he  was  not  far  from  some  settlement,  he 
retraced  his  steps  to  the  spot  where  he  had  left  his  feeble  mate.  He 
found  Joseph  still  lying  as  he  had  left  him,  utterly  despairing  of  help, 
and  too  weak  even  to  lament  his  unhappy  fate.  He  told  what  he  had 
seen,  and  aroused  Joseph's  hope;  and  after  rubbing  his  limbs  for  a 
long  time,  he  succeeded  in  getting  the  poor  boy  upon  his  feet.  Assist- 
ing him  to  walk,  and  sometimes  carrying  him  upon  his  back,  he 
encouraged  him  with  hopes  of  speedy  relief.  Thus,  with  slow  and 
laborious  steps,  they  proceeded  till  night  again  overtook  them;  but  they 
saw  a  light  in  the  distance,  and  were  encouraged  to  exert  all  their 
remaining  strength.  At  last  they  reached  a  settlement,  and  utterly  ex- 
hausted, emaciated,  with  bleeding  limbs,  they  were  kindly  taken  care 
of  at  Saco  Fort.  Eight  days  and  nights  they  had  travelled  through 
the  trackless  wilderness,  with  scarce  any  food  save  one  pigeon,  a  small 
turtle,  and  a  few  roots.  What  a  relief  it  was,  after  their  long  captivity 
and  weary  journey,  to  find  themselves  once  more  among  people  of 
their  own  race,  escaped  from  their  captors,  and  safe  from  pursuit ! 
They  were  kindly  cared  for,  and  Isaac  soon  recovered  his  strength 
sufficiently  to  find  his  way  from  settlement  to  settlement  till  he  reached 
his  home  in  Haverhill,  where  he  was  welcomed  as  one  restored  from 
the  dead.  Joseph,  younger  and  more  exhausted,  was  seized  with  a 
violent  fever  immediately  upon  his  arrival  at  the  fort,  and  for  a  long 
time  his  recovery  was  doubtful.  Before  he  was  able  to  travel,  his 
father,  hearing  from  Isaac  the  joyful  news  of  his  escape,  arrived  at 
the  fort  to  carry  him  back  to  the  tender  embraces  of  his  mother. 


L. 


ROYAL  TYRANNY    IN    NEW   ENGLAND,   AND 
THE    SPIRIT    OF    LIBERTY. 


OW  the  Virginia  colonists  were  animated  with  the  spirit 
of  civil  liberty,  which  led  them  to  resist  the  oppres- 
sion of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  has  been  related  in  a 
previous  chapter.  All  the  colonists  from  England 
brought  with  them  a  high  sense  of  their  rights  as 
Englishmen.  The  people  of  New  England  were 
especially  strenuous  in  their  assertion  and  maintenance 
of  their  rights  and  privileges.  From  the  first,  they 
asserted  their  independence  of  the  mother  country  in  many  respects, 
though  in  others  they  acknowledged  allegiance  to  the  home  govern- 
ment. The  Massachusetts  colony  had,  under  its  charter,  managed  its 
own  affairs,  and  its  example  had  been  followed  by  those  colonies  which 
were  its  offshoots.  During  the  existence  of  the  English  commonwealth, 
the  sympathy  between  the  colonists  and  the  dominant  party  of  the 
mother  country  had  secured  them  from  the  application  of  the  Naviga- 
tion Acts  of  Parliament  to  their  commerce,  and  not  until  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts  did  they  experience  any  serious  interference  with  the 
rights  and  privileges  which  they  had  claimed  and  enjoyed.  If  they 
were  sometimes  called  to  answer  complaints  against  their  conduct,  they 
had  never  yielded  any  precious  right,  or  abandoned  any  valuable 
privilege. 

When  the  commonwealth  crumbled,  and  the  monarchy  was  restored 
under  Charles   II.,  the    people    of  New  England  were   in   no    haste    to 

428 


ROTAL    COMMISSIONERS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


429 


acknowledge  the  king,  from  whom,  they  were  justly  fearful  they  could 
expect  no  special  favor.  They  hoped  for  a  counter  revolution,  which 
should  restore  the  Puritan  commonwealth;  but  when  it  was  certain 
that  the  monarchy  was  firmly  established,  they  acknowledged  allegiance, 
as  formerly,  to  the  king,  and  took  measures  to  secure  from  him  a  recog- 
nition of  the  rights  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed. 

While  seeking  such  a  recognition  from  the  king,  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  were  none  the  less  determined  jealously  to  maintain  those 
rights,  and  to  yield  nothing  of  the  privileges  granted  by  their  charter. 
They  soon  had  an  opportunity  to  show  how  firm  was  their  resolution. 
The  Puritan  colony,  which  was  an  epitome  of  the  commonwealth, 
could  not  be  allowed  to  exist  undisturbed.  Royal  commissioners  were 
sent  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  New  England.  They  came  with  a  fleet 
fitted  out  to  reduce  the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  Hudson,  and  estab- 
lish the  claim  of  the  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II.,  to  that  ter- 
ritory; and  after  arranging  that  business,  they  were  to  inquire  into  the 
manner  in  which  the  charters  of  New  England  had  been  exercised, 
and  were  invested  with  discretionary  powers  "  to  provide  for  the  peace 
of  the  country." 

The  commissioners  were  received  with  coldness  by  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  who  were  not  disposed  to  trust  to  the  discretion  of  royal 
agents.  They  were  determined  not  to  allow  any  entering-wedge  to  be 
driven  into  their  political  fabric,  which  should  open  the  way  for  tyranny, 
and  they  took  a  stand  on  their  chartered  rights  before  the  commission- 
ers attempted  to  exercise  the  authority  with  which  they  were  invested. 
To  show  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  the  general  court  voted  to  raise 
men  for  the  expedition  against  the  Dutch  settlements.  The  authority 
of  the  commissioners  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony  was  scru- 
pulously denied.  Without  accomplishing  more  in  Massachusetts  than 
to  test  the  constant  determination  of  the  colonists  to  maintain  their 
chartered  rights,  the  commissioners  proceeded  with  the  fleet  to  the 
•  Hudson,  where  their  proceedings  will  be  mentioned  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

While  affairs  in  New  York  were  in  process  of  settlement,  the  com- 
missioners visited  Connecticut,  where  they  seem  to  have  adopted  the* 
policy  of  dividing  the  colonies  in  sentiment;  and  in  order  to  play  off 


43o        ROTAL    TTRANNT,   AND    THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTT. 

Connecticut  against  Massachusetts,  they  adopted  a  conciliatory  course. 
In  the  settlement  of  the  boundary  between  that  colony  and  New  York, 
and  in  other  matters,  they  deferred  to  the  wishes  of  Connecticut,  and 
thus  secured  the  good-will  of  the  people.  The  younger  Winthrop,  by 
his  ability,  accomplishments,  and  influence  at  court,  had  recently  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  from  Charles  II.  a  liberal  charter,  under  which 
the  colonies  of  Hartford  and  New  Haven  were  united.  Though  the 
union  was  not  at  first  regarded  with  favor  by  New  Haven,  the  favor- 
able terms  of  the  charter  had  the  natural  effect  of  making  the  people 
generally  loyal  to  the  monarch  who  had  thus  manifested  his  one  merit 
of  good-nature  towards  them  or  their  admirable  agent.  No  dislike  of 
the  commission  was  manifested  by  the  magistrates  or  people,  and  in 
their  report  to  the  king,  the  commissioners  praised  the  "  dutifulness " 
of  Connecticut,  in  contrast  with  the  disaffection  of  Massachusetts. 

In  Rhode  Island,  the  commissioners  met  with  a  like  favorable  recep- 
tion. Through  the  favor  of  the  king,  and  the  devoted  efforts  of  Clarke, 
that  colony  had  also  recently  received  a  charter  of  remarkable  liberality. 
The  people,  always  loyal,  and  dependent  on  the  mother  country,  had 
no  fears  that  so  recent  a  grant  would  be  disturbed;  and  they  doubtless 
hoped  to  derive  some  advantage  from  the  commission,  which  might 
put  them  in  a  position  of  equality  with  the  other  colonies.  The  com- 
missioners, therefore,  found  nothing  of  which  to  complain,  and  much 
to  commend. 

Meanwhile  they  were  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  Massachu- 
setts, whose  government  would  not  submit  to  their  interference  in  its 
affairs.  Plymouth,  weak  in  numbers  and  wealth,  but  strong  in  the  love 
of  independence,  was  no  more  disposed  to  submit  than  her  more  pow- 
erful neighbor.  The  commissioners  promised  a  much  desired  charter, 
if  the  people  would  recognize  the  royal  prerogative,  and  allow  the 
king  to  select  their  governor.  The  general  assembly  took  the  propo- 
sition into  respectful  consideration,  but  remembering  the  independence 
and  quiet  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed,  they  replied,  with  strong  protesta- 
tions of  loyalty  to  the  king,  that  they  preferred  to  continue  under  the 
simple  form  of  government  which  they  then  had.  The  calm  and  defer- 
ential, though  firm  manner  in  which  their  proposals  were  met,  afforded 
the  commissioners  no  opportunity  for  a  quarrel,  however  much  they 
may  have  been  nettled  at  their  failure. 


A    CONFLICT  OF  AUTHORITY. 

But  in  Massachusetts  they  found  a  different  temper.  The  first 
settlers  had  brought  with  them  a  charter  which  they  regarded  as  the 
palladium  of  their  liberties.  Under  it  they  had  governed  themselves, 
and  maintained  an  independence  of  the  mother  country,  prospering  as 
no  other  colony  had  prospered.  Government  and  people  were  jealous 
of  any  interference  which  might  in  any  degree  invalidate  their  charter, 
and  the  commissioners  had  a  sorry  time  in  asserting  their  authority. 
Nothing  substantial  was  yielded  by  the  colonists,  and  their  firmness 
.led  to  a  series  of  bitter  disputes.  At  last,  the  commissioners — tired  of 
their  unavailing  efforts  to  coax  the  obstinate  Puritans,  and  of  argument 
in  which  they  were  continually  worsted  —  resolved  to  assert  the  author- 
ity with  which  the  royal  commission  invested  them. 

They  publicly  announced  their  intention  to  hold  a  court  to  decide 
some  of  the  questions  over  which  they  claimed  to  have  jurisdiction. 
A  case  was  made  up,  and  the  colony  was  cited  to  appear  as  defend- 
ant. This  was  an  assumption  of  their  prerogative  which  the  general 
court  could  not  tolerate,  and  they  forbade  the  proceedings,  and  disre- 
garded the  summons.  The  commissioners,  in  turn,  paid  no  heed  to 
the  general  court,  and  persisted  in  their  course.  The  general  court 
had  long  been  supreme  in  Massachusetts,  and  they  proposed  to  remain 
so.  They  therefore  prepared  to  measure  strength  with  the  meddlers. 

The  day  appointed  for  the  trial  arrived,  and  the  commissioners, 
with  due  ceremony,  prepared  to  hold  their  court  and  proceed  with 
the  cause.  But  they  found  their  match  in  the  stubborn  colonists.  The 
people  were  all  astir,  indignant  at  the  attempt  to  override  their  charter, 
and  anxious  to  learn  what  was  to  be  the  result  of  the  controversy. 
While  they  awaited  the  hour  appointed  by  the  commissioners  for  the 
trial,  a  herald  appeared  and  sounded  a  trumpet.  The  crowd  gathered 
in  all  haste  about  him  as  he  made  a  public  proclamation,  in  the  name 
of  the  king  and  by  authority  of  the  charter,  to  all  the  people  of  the 
colony,  that,  "  in  observance  of  their  duty  to  God,  to  the  king,  and  to 
their  constituents,  the  general  court  could  not  suffer  any  to  abet  his 
majesty's  honorable  commissioners  in  their  proceedings."  A  murmur 
of  approval  ran  through  the  crowd;  and  the  herald  proceeded  to  two 
other  places  where,  with  a  like  flourish  of  the  trumpet,  he  repeated 
the  solemn  proclamation.  This  measure  had  the  desired  effect;  the 


432         ROYAL    TYRANNY,  AND   THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

proclamation  of  the  general  court  was  not  to  be  disregarded;  neither 
defendant  nor  witnesses,  nor  even  spectators,  attended  the  court  of  the 
commissioners,  who  found  themselves  only  the  objects  of  ridicule. 

Disgusted  with  their  want  of  success,  and  with  the  obstinacy  of 
Massachusetts,  which  they  could  overcome  neither  by  fear  nor  favor, 
the  commissioners  abandoned  the  contest,  and  proceeded  to  New  Hamp- 
shire, where  the  influence  of  Massachusetts  followed  them;  and  to  Maine, 
where  they  found  more  favor,  but  still  experienced  the  opposition  of 
the  elder  colony.  Then  followed  a  long  controversy,  which  was  trans- 
ferred to  England,  whither  some  of  the  leading  men  of  Massachusetts 
were  summoned  to  negotiate  concerning  the  claims  of  the  colony  to 
Maine,  and  to  answer  for  the  contumacy  of  the  general  court.  At  last, 
the  corrupt  and  sensual  court  of  Charles  II.  was  too  much  engrossed 
with  its  pleasures  to  care  much  for  the  far-off  Puritan  colony,  whose 
high  notions  of  its  chartered  rights  profligate  courtiers  could  not  under- 
stand. New  England  affairs  were  neglected  for  the  more  pleasing 
intrigues  of  a  licentious  court,  and  New  England  prospered  by  the 
neglect. 

Then  followed  King  Philip's  war,  which  was  fought  through  with- 
out any  aid  from  the  mother  country.  The  war,  indeed,  served  only 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  English  ministry  once  more  to  the  refrac- 
tory Puritan  colony.  While  the  people  of  Massachusetts  were  yet  suf- 
fering from  its  effects,  and  the  savages  were  still  practising  their 
cruelties  in  Maine,  Edward  Randolph  was  sent  as  a  royal  messenger 
to  reopen  the  dispute  as  to  jurisdiction.  Massachusetts  was  becoming 
too  powerful,  and  her  influence  must  be  circumscribed;  and  her  right 
to  jurisdiction  over  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  was  denied  by  the 
privy  council.  But,  as  yet,  the  precious  charter  was  not  called  in 
question.  Massachusetts  then  by  purchase  secured  possession  of  the 
grant  which  had  been  made  to  Gorges,  under  which  the  contest  had 
begun,  and  a  controversy  arose  whether  proprietary  rights  carried  with 
them  the  right  of  jurisdiction.  New  Hampshire  was  more  thoroughly 
severed  from  Massachusetts,  and  made  a  royal  province. 

Massachusetts,  with  a  determined  spirit,  maintained  her  rights  be- 
fore the  privy  council,  and,  though  with  constant  fear  and  anxiety  for 
the  issue,  -generally  with  success.  But  her  enemies  were  reinforced 


A    WRIT  OF  ^UO   WARRANTO.  433 

by  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  England,  who  regarded  her 
growing  prosperity  with  jealousy,  and  sought  to  secure  a  monopoly  of 
colonial  trade.  They  complained  of  the  long  total  disregard  of  the 
Navigation  Acts  on  the  part  of  the  colony;  and  their  influence,  even 
in  that  day,  was  such,  that  it  was  not  long  before  the  question  was 
raised,  whether  the  charter  under  which  the  colonists  had  so  long 
shielded  themselves  had  a  legal  existence.  The  monarchy  could  not 
well  deny  the  validity  of  a  charter  granted  under  the  royal  hand  of 
James  I.;  but  in  order  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  the  friends  of 
prerogative  and  the  enemies  of  Massachusetts,  it  was  suggested  that  it 
might  be  abrogated  for  cause. 

For  several  years  the  matter  remained  unsettled,  and  the  general 
court  adopted  some  measures  to  show  their  recognition  of  the  crown, 
such  as  putting  up  the  king's  arms  in  the  court-house;  but  they  yielded 
nothing  of  their  rights  under  the  charter.  The  people  were  aware  how 
their  liberties  were  threatened,  and  they  anxiously  discussed  the  policy 
to  be  pursued.  The  clergy,  who  had  always  taken  the  lead  in  political 
affairs,  were  outspoken  in  their  opinion  that  it  was  a  religious  duty  to 
maintain  the  charter,  and  they  consolidated  public  sentiment  against 
any  surrender  of  the  liberties  secured  by  it.  The  general  court  truly 
represented  the  people,  and  were  firm  in  their  resolution  not  to  yield 
anything  voluntarily. 

Meanwhile,  the  power  of  the  king,  through  the  schemes  of  hungry 
courtiers,  the  blind  submission  of  the  church  of  England,  and  the  apathy 
of  the  English  people,  had  become  more  and  more  despotic,  and  the 
friends  of  popular  liberty  had  perished  on  the  scaffold.  The  time  was 
at  last  ripe  to  proceed  against  the  recusant  colony,  and  summon  it 
before  a  tribunal  subservient  to  the  king.  A  writ  of  quo  ivarranto 
was  issued,  and  the  obnoxious  Randolph  was  sent  with  it  to  Massa- 
chusetts. The  lurking  good-nature  of  the  king  prompted  him  to  send 
with  the  writ  a  declaration  promising  the  royal  favor,  and  the  fewest 
alterations  of  the  charter  consistent  with  the  maintenance  of  a  royal 
government,  if  the  colony  would  quietly  submit. 

The  magistrates,  feeling  that  further  resistance  before  a  tribunal 
bound  to  do  the  king's  will  would  be  fruitless,  were  disposed  to  trust  to 
this  promise,  and  submit.  They  resolved  "  not  to  contend  with  his 

NO.  xi.  55 


434        ROYAL   TYRANNY,  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

majesty  in  a  court  of  law,"  but  to  send  agents  to  remind  him  of  his 
promises  and  receive  his  commands.  The  vote,  as  usual,  was  submit- 
ted to  the  deputies  for  their  approval,  and  was  by  them  discussed  for 
many  days.  They  faithfully  represented  the  people,  and,  after  their  long 
deliberation,  they  voted  not  to  consent  to  the  proposition.  If  they  were 
to  be  deprived  of  their  liberties,  it  should  be  by  no  voluntary  act  of 
theirs.  The  king  was  asked  to  forbear;  but  all  such  appeals  were  now 
in  vain,  and  the  prosecution  proceeded  to  its  predetermined  conclusion; 
the  charter  was  adjudged  to  be  forfeited,  and  Massachusetts  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  king  and  a  corrupt  court. 

Before  a  new  order  of  things  was  actually  commenced  in  the  colony, 
Charles  II.  died;  and  James  II.,  a  worse  ruler,  and  a  more  narrow- 
minded  man,  succeeded  him  on  the  throne.  Knowing  the  new  king 
to  be  a  papist,  cold-hearted,  and  an  enemy  of  popular  liberty,  indul- 
ging in  a  baser  sensuality  than  that  of  his  brother,  and  without  his 
natural  generosity,  the  people  looked  for  the  government  which  was  to 
be  vouchsafed  to  them,  with  gloomy  forebodings.  It  was  not  altogether 
pleasant  when,  after  nearly  a  year's  delay,  Joseph  Dudley,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  but  faithless  to  the  charter,  and  an  avowed  royalist, 
came  to  assume,  for  a  time,  the  government  of  the  colony.  They  had 
feared  that  a  more  dangerous  man  might  be  sent;  and  though  to  this 
extent  it  was  a  relief,  it  was  also  a  source  of  regret  and  indignation 
that  a  son  of  Massachusetts  should  come  to  represent  the  triumph  of 
royal  prerogative  over  their  chartered  liberties.  With  Dudley  came 
the  old  enemy  of  the  colony,  Randolph,  with  authority  to  exercise  a 
censorship  over  the  press,  and  a  disposition  to  practise  other  devices 
of  petty  tyranny. 

The  old  government  was  formally  set  aside,  and  the  new  order  of 
things  proclaimed.  While  a  few  sycophants  were  ready  to  support  the 
royal  commission,  the  people  generally  looked  on  with  sorrow  and  dis- 
quiet. The  authority  of  Dudley  was  only  temporary;  and  after  a  few 
months,  Sir  Edmund  Andros  came,  duly  commissioned  as  royal  gov- 
ernor of  New  England;  and  then  the  people  realized  more  fully  that 
they  lived  no  longer  under  their  precious  charter,  but  in  a  royal  province. 

Andros  had  been  the  representative  of  James  II.  while  he  was  yet 
the  Duke  of  York,  when  the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  Hudson  were 


ANDROS  IN  CONNECTICUT. 


435 


surrendered  a  second  time  to  the  English,  and  the  grant  of  a  vast  ter- 
ritory, from  Maine  along  the  frontier  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
to  the  Delaware,  was  confirmed  to  him  by  a  royal  charter.  This  grant 
to  the  Duke  of  York  covered  the  territory  as  far  as  the  Connecticut 
River,  and  Andros,  not  long  after  assuming  the  government  of  New 
York,  as  the  province  was  named  by  the  English,  had  tested  the  spirit 
of  New  England  when  he  proceeded  with  some  armed  vessels  to  assert 
his  jurisdiction  as  far  as  that  river.  As  soon  as  this  expedition  was 
known  in  Connecticut,  the  aged  deputy-governor,  Leete,  convened  the 
assembly,  who,  representing  the  will  of  the  people,  prepared  to  resist 
any  invasion  of  their  territory  or  rights.  Orders  were  sent  to  the  com- 
mander of  the  fort  at  Saybrook,  not  to  surrender  to,  or  recognize  the 
claimant.  The  orders  arrived  just  as  Andros  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  fort.  The  garrison  was  composed  of  the  Connecticut  militia, 
who  knew  little  about  war,  but  were  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence, and  the  only  answer  to  the  summons  was  the  raising  of  the 
English  flag  over  the  fort,  and  a  shout  of  defiance.  Andros  did  not 
desire  to  resort  to  a  conflict,  or  feared  the  result,  and  endeavored  to 
accomplish  his  purposes  by  a  peaceful  conference.  He  asked  permis- 
sion to  land,  for  the  purpose  of  an  amicable  interview,  and  being 
allowed  to  do  so  with  a  small  retinue,  he  immediately,  on  reaching  the 
fort,  assumed  authority,  and  ordered  the  duke's  patent  to  be  proclaimed. 
The  Connecticut  yeomen  were  not  thus  to  be  overreached,  and  in  the 
king's  name  the  herald  was  ordered  to  desist,  and  the  proclamation  of 
the  colonial  assembly  was  read.  This  determined  spirit,  which  was 
enforced  by  the  resolute  looks  of  the  colonial  troops,  "was  more  than 
the  duke's  representative  had  anticipated.  He  found  himself  in  a  pre- 
carious situation,  and  he  was  glad  to  retire,  apparently  escorted,  and  in 
fact  driven  to  his  boat. 

This  attempt  had  given  Andros  an  idea  of  the  Puritan  spirit  of  New 
England,  and,  together  with  his  subsequent  acts  of  oppression  by  com- 
mand of  his  master,  had  made  him  known  to  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts as  an  instrument  of  tyranny.  His  arrival  at  Boston  was,  therefore, 
more  unwelcome  than  that  of  Dudley,  and  an  augury  of  evil  days  to 
come.  He  came  with  the  pomp  and  display  which  he  considered 
belonged  to  his  office,  in  the  showy  dress  of  the  court,  —  scarlet,  and 


436         ROYAL    TYRANNY,  AND   THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

gold,  and  lace,  —  which  contrasted  strongly  with  the  more  sober  garb 
of  the  former  governors  and  magistrates.  Among  the  crowd  who  wit- 
nessed the  landing  of  the  governor  and  his  retinue,  there  were,  of 
course,  some  who,  averse  to  the  spirit  of  Puritanism,  welcomed  the 
change,  and  manifested  their  satisfaction  by  cheers;  but  the  mass  of 
the  people  looked  on  coldly  and  sullenly.  Andros  saw,  at  the  outset, 
that  he  had  come  to  govern  "  a  perverse  people." 

The  royal  governor  was  authorized  to  appoint  the  members  of  his 
council,  and  he  took  care  to  appoint  a  majority  who  would  be  merely 
subservient  courtiers.  This  council  made  the  laws;  and  the  people, 
who  had  always  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  choosing  their  own  rulers, 
soon  felt  that  they  were  simply  the  subjects  of  a  despotism.  Episco- 
pacy was  to-  be  sustained,  and  free  printing-presses  were  not  to  be 
tolerated.  The  governor  was  further  authorized  to  maintain  his  gov- 
ernment, which  was  but  the  will  of  a  tyrant,  by  force.  A  body  of 
English  soldiers  was  placed  in  the  fort,  and  the  militia  was  under  the 
governor's  control,  though  he  could  expect  little  aid  from  them. 

With  such  authority,  responsible  only  to  the  king,  whose  notion  of 
government  was  simply  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative,  it  is  not  strange 
that  the  most  tyrannical  measures  followed.  Acts  of  real  oppression 
and  of  petty  tyranny  were  indulged  in  at  the  pleasure  of  Andros  and 
his  subordinates,  who  had  come  to  gain  wealth  by  the  plunder  of  the 
colonists.  •  Personal  liberty  was  set  at  nought,  and  long-established 
rights  and  privileges  were  derided.  Taxes  and  fees  were  multiplied 
at  the  will  of  the  officers.  Town  meetings  were  prohibited  as  acts  of 
sedition  and  riot.  The  religious  services  of  the  Puritans  were  subjected 
to  various  annoyances,  and  the  Episcopal  service  was  performed  by 
force.  The  title  to  lands  was  ignored,  notwithstanding  the  king  had 
declared  that  their  properties  should  be  granted  to  the  people  "accord- 
ing to  their  ancient  records."  Andros  and  Randolph  insisted  that  new 
grants  must  be  taken,  for  which  exorbitant  fees  were  exacted  in  order 
to  bring  in  "vast  profits"  to  the  hungry  spoilsmen.  If  a  landholder 
pleaded  his  grant  under  the  charter,  he  was  told  that  it  was  made 
void  by  the  forfeiture  of  that  instrument.  If  he  showed  an  Indian 
deed,  he  was  informed  that  it  was  "worth  no  more  than  the  scratch 
of  a  bear's  paw."  If  the  record  of  town  grants  was  produced,  it  was 


EPISCOPACT  IN  A   PURITAN  MEETING-HOUSE.  437 

declared  "  not  worth  a  rush."  There  was  no  way  to  escape  the  rapa- 
cious tyrants;  the  poor  farmer  must  pay  the  fee  which  impoverished 
him,  or  be  ejected  from  the  lands  he  had  subdued  and  long  enjoyed. 
And  the  proceeds  of  these  exactions  were  appropriated  to  the  support 
of  the  tyrannical  government  and  the  emoluments  of  officers. 

These  measures  of  oppression  were  accompanied  by  acts  of  petty 
tyranny  scarcely  less  annoying  and  painful  to  the  people.  They  were 
constantly  reminded  of  their  subjection,  and  told  that  they  had  no 
rights.  No  encouragement  was  given  to  schools,  and  the  methods  of 
supporting  religious  worship  were  abolished.  The  services  of  the  meet- 
inf-house  were  ridiculed,  and  the  Puritans  were  asked  to  contribute 

O  ' 

towards  the  erection  of  a  church  for  the  Episcopal  service,  which  they 
esteemed  as  little  better  than  papacy.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  Andros 
demanded  the  use  of  one  of  the  meeting-houses  for  the  performance 
of  the  church  service.  The  Puritan  elders  declared  that  they  could 
not  consent  to  such  a  use  of  their  meeting-house,  and  the  worthy  sex- 
ton said  he  would  not  ring  the  bell.  The  refusal  defeated  the  first 
demand;  but  the  tyrant  whose  power  was  absolute  found  a  way  to 
accomplish  his  purpose.  By  threats  he  succeeded  in  having  the  meet- 
ing-house opened,  and  the  bell  rung.  Then,  with  his  retinue,  he  pro- 
ceeded thither,  and  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  in  gown  and  surplice,  read 
from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  the  Puritan  meeting-house. 

The  people  of  Massachusetts  did  not  meekly  endure  these  acts  of 
petty  tyranny,  nor  willingly  submit  to  the  exactions  of  the  arbitrary 
government.  In  some  of  the  towns  they  refused  to  pay  the  taxes  levied 
upon  them.  The  ministers,  as  always  before,  were  foremost  in  pro- 
claiming the  right  of  resistance  to  tyrants.  Prosecutions  and  imprison- 
ment followed;  packed  juries  rendered  verdicts  as  the  subservient 
magistrates  directed.  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  denied,  and  when 
as  Englishmen  the  prisoners  appealed  to  the  protection  of  Magna  Charta, 
a  provincial  Jeffries  replied,  "Think  not  the  laws  of  England  follow 
you  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  The  time  had  not  come  for  forcible 
resistance,  but  the  spirit  of  liberty  animated  the  people.  But  they  first 
sought,  though  with  little  hope,  for  some  relief  by  an  appeal  to  the 
king;  and  Increase  Mather  was  sent  to  England  on  this  errand,  in  spite 
of  the  law  prohibiting  any  one  to  leave  the  country  without  permission. 


438        ROYAL   TYRANNY,  AND   THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

Randolph,  who  entertained  a  personal  hatred  towards  Mather,  as  well 
as  a  dislike  for  all  Puritan  clergymen,  and  was  the  willing  instrument 
for  all  petty  tyranny,  attempted  to  prevent  his  departure;  but,  by  means 
of  disguise,  the  minister  succeeded  in  evading  pursuit,  and  got  on  board 
a  vessel  about  to  sail  for  England. 

The  people  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  still  lived  under  the 
liberal  charters  granted  by  Charles  II.;  but  Andros  had  been  appointed 
by  James  II.  governor  of  all  New  England,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Boston  he  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  charter  of  Rhode  Island. 
Governor  Clarke,  by  whose  labors  the  charter  had  been  obtained, 
desired  a  delay;  but  Andros  was  determined  to  assert  his  authority. 
A  writ  of  quo  nuarranto  had  already  been  issued  against  the  charter, 
and,  in  view  of  the  fate  of  Massachusetts,  the  government  resolved 
not  to  contend.  Proceeding  to  Rhode  Island,  Andros  dissolved  the 
government,  broke  its  seal,  and  appointed  five  citizens  members  of  his 
council,  who,  responsible  only  to  him,  should  administer  the  affairs  of 
the  colony. 

In  the  autumn  of  1687,  Andros,  with  some  of  his  council  and  an 
armed  guard,  went  to  Connecticut  to  assume  control  of  that  portion 
of  his  province.  Against  the  charter  obtained  by  the  younger  Winthrop, 
a  writ  of  quo  nuarranto  had  also  been  issued.  More  determined  than 
the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  the  colony  asserted  its  chartered  rights, 
and  appealed  to  the  king.  The  result  of  the  proceedings  was  yet 
unknown  when  Andros  arrived  in  Hartford.  The  colonial  assembly 
was  in  session,  and  the  royal  governor,  with  his  retinue,  marched  into 
the  hall  and  arrogantly  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  charter.  The 
people  of  Connecticut  were  much  like  those  of  Massachusetts,  and 
their  representatives  were  not  disposed  to  yield  to  the  demand  without 
discussion.  Governor  Treat  pleaded  with  great  zeal  and  able  argument 
for  the  charter  granted  by  the  late  king,  and  was  supported  by  the 
magistrates  and  deputies.  Andros  was  a  keen  lawyer,  and  argued  in 
reply.  The  debate  continued  till  evening,  and  candles  were  brought  in. 
The  citizens,  stirred  by  the  report  of  the  proceedings,  crowded  into  the 
hall  to  hear  the  debate.  The  cherished  charter  lay  on  the  table  before 
the  governor,  and  Andros  probably  only  waited  for  some  crisis  in  the 
proceedings  to  seize  the  precious  instrument  and  tear  it  into  fragments. 


THE  CHARTER  OAK. 

But  that  opportunity  did  not  occur.  There  were  those  present  who 
were  bold  enough,  by  a  hastily  formed  but  well-executed  plot,  to  pre- 
vent the  outrage.  Suddenly  the  not  over-numerous  candles  were  extin- 
guished, and,  in  the  darkness,  William  Wadsworth  quietly  seized  the 
parchment  and  passed  out  through  the  crowd.  When  the  candles  were 
relighted,  the  subject  of  discussion  had  disappeared,  and  could  not  be 
found.  While  Andros  looked  on  in  anger,  and  others  in  wonder,  and 
some  of  the  royal  governor's  followers  were  disposed  to  cry  treason, 
Wadsworth  hurried  to  an  ancient  oak,  in  the  hollow  of  which  he  con- 
cealed the  precious  charter.  There  it  remained  till  a  new  revolution 
brought  it  once  more  to  light;  and  the  noble  tree,  always  afterward 
known  as  the  "  Charter  Oak,"  was  cherished  with  the  greatest  rever- 
ence till  time's  ravages  at  last  destroyed  it. 

The  disappearance  of  the  written  charter,  however,  was  of  little 
consequence  to  Andros.  Its  authority  was  denied,  and  the  government 
established  upon  it  was  subverted.  To  the  records  of  the  assembly  he 
added  the  word  Finis,  and,  appointing  a  new  council,  formally  estab- 
lished an  arbitrary  government  founded  on  the  royal  prerogative. 

The  spirit  of  liberty,  which,  from  the  first,  had  burned  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  of  New  England,  was  not  crushed  by  the  oppression  of 
the  agents  of  royalty.  They  were  ready  to  resist,  as  nearly  a  century 
later  they  resisted.  They  only  bided  their  time,  and  waited  patiently 
till  peaceful  efforts  to  regain  their  rights  should  be  exhausted.  The 
time  for  action,  and  their  relief,  came  sooner  than  they  anticipated. 

While  the  minions  of  a  tyrannical  king  were  oppressing  the  colo- 
nies in  his  name,  and  for  their  own  emolument,  the  bigoted  and  des- 
potic mona'rch  himself  was  preparing  the  way  for  a  revolution  in 
England.  At  last,  the  long-threatening  storm  burst:  William,  Prince 
of  Orange,  invited  by  Tories  and  Whigs,  Church  of  England  and  Pres- 
byterians, landed  in  England  to  assume  the  government;  and  James  II., 
deserted  by  priests,  friends,  and  children,  fled  to  the  Continent. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1689,  a  vessel  arrived  at  Boston,  bringing  a 
messenger  to  announce  the  glorious  news  of  the  great  revolution  in 
the  mother  country.  The  intelligence  spread  rapidly  as  soon  as  it  was 
told  to  those  who  first  communicated  with  the  ship;  but  when  it 
reached  the  ears  of  the  governor,  the  messenger  was  forthwith  impris- 


440         ROYAL    TYRANNY,  AND   THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

oned.  It  was  too  late,  however,  to  suppress  the  exciting  news.  In  a 
few  hours  it  was  known  throughout  the  town,  and  was  quickly  borne 
even  to  the  remote  settlements.  Knots  of  citizens  discussed  it  and  its 
consequences,  greatly  to  the  alarm  of  the  agents  of  the  dethroned 
tyrant;  and  (|£  ministers  stirred  the  whole  people  with  discourses 
adapted  to  the  times,  declaring  that  the  day  of  deliverance  was  at 
hand. 

For  two  weeks  the  excitement,  though  repressed,  continued,  and 
the  spirit  of  revolt  ripened.  Alarmed  at  the  "  general  buzzing  among 
the  people,"  Andros  sent  orders  to  the  commander  of  the  fort  to  have 
his  soldiers  ready  for  action,  and  similar  orders  to  the  commander  of 
a  frigate  lying  in  the  harbor.  But  one  morning,  two  days  after  the 
orders  were  given,  this  naval  officer,  as  he  stepped  on  shore,  probably 
with  contempt  for  the  "  buzzing "  of  the  citizens,  suddenly  found  him- 
self a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  a  party  of  stalwart  ship-carpenters. 
This  was  a  signal  for  the  people  to  gather,  and  they  were  soon  col- 
lected in  formidable  numbers.  The  royalist  sheriff  hastened  to  quiet 
and  disperse  the  multitude,  and  he  too  was  held  as  a  prisoner.  The 
crowd  then  demanded  of  the  commander  of  the  militia  the  colors  and 
arms  of  the  regiment.  Holding  his  office  by  appointment  of  Andros, 
he  refused  the  demand;  but  it  was  enforced  by  threats,  and  companies 
were  soon  formed  under  their  'old  officers.  Meanwhile  several  royal 
officers  were  arrested,  and  the  governor,  with  his  adherents,  hastened 
to  the  fort  for  safety.  There  he  desired  to  hold  a  conference  with  the 
ministers  and  other  leading  citizens,  but  they  were  too  wary  to  trust 
themselves  in  the  power  of  the  tyrant,  and  the  conference  was  declined. 
The  revolt  was  now  in  full  progress,  the  several  companies  of  militia 
assembled  at  the  town-house,  and  boys  paraded  the  streets  with  clubs. 

The  proceedings  of  the  people,  though  revolutionary,  were  not  riot- 
ous. They  assembled  in  the  town-house  —  after  the  manner  of  former 
town  meetings  which  had  been  suppressed  by  the  royal  governor — to 
consider  their  duties  and  the  requirements  of  the  hour.  The  venerable 
colonial  governor,  Bradstreet,  a  relic  of  the  earliest  days  of  the  colony, 
and  a  representative  of  the  spirit  of  civil  liberty  which  animated  the 
Puritan  pioneers,  was  present,  and  was  hailed  with  shouts  of  welcome, 
as  the  very  opposite  of  the  arrogant  and  tyrannical  Andros.  The  men 


ANDROS     A     PRISONER    IN     BOSTON. 


ANDROS  A   PRISONER. 


441 


who  had  long  been  honored  as  magistrates  were  there,  and  the  min- 
isters, who,  as  the  royalists  declared,  were  responsible  for  this  "  long- 
contrived  piece  of  wickedness,"  were  not  wanting  with  encouragement 
and  advice.  A  provisional  government  was  organized  by  making  the 
old  magistrates,  who  had  gone  out  with  the  overthrow  of  the  charter, 
a  council  of  safety,  with  Bradstreet  as  their  president;  and  a  solemn 
declaration  of  the  purposes  of  the  insurrection  was  adopted  and  sent 
out  to  all  the  other  towns  of  the  colony,  inviting  their  co-operation. 
Already  the  stirring  news  had  spread  to  many  of  those  towns,  and  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Charles  River  a  thousand  armed  yeomen  assem- 
bled to  take  part  in  any  conflict  which  might  ensue. 

Meanwhile  the  "  train-band "  soldiers  of  Boston  proceeded  to  con- 
summate the  revolution  by  an  actual  overthrow  of  the  hated  govern- 
ment inflicted  by  the  deposed  king.  The  fort  which  was  then  the 
defence  of  Boston  was  on  a  hill  in  the  south-easterly  part  of  the  penin- 
sula, known  as  Fort  Hill  as  long  as  it  existed,  and  was  a  work  of 
some  strength  for  the  times.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  near  the  water, 
was  a  battery,  called  the  "  sconce,"  a  small  work  mounted  with  several 
guns.  A  body  of  the  militia  moved  along  the  shore  towards  this  bat- 
tery, and,  at  their  approach,  the  few  soldiers  who  held  it  retired  hastily 
to  the  fort  on  the  hill.  The  battery  was  seized,  and  the  guns  turned 
towards  the  fort.  The  garrison  was  small,  and  as  the  forces  of  the 
insurgents  were  evidently  becoming  too  formidable,  Andros  thought  that 
the  place  of  safety  for  him  was  on  board  the  frigate  which  lay  in  the 
harbor  with  ports  open  and  guns  out.  He  attempted  to  escape,  with 
his  followers,  but  the  whole  party  was  captured,  and  marched  through 
the  streets  as' prisoners.  The  arrogance  and  contempt  with  which  he 
and  his  creatures  had  treated  the  people  of  Boston,  were  now  repaid 
with  jeers,  as,  in  his  scarlet  coat  but  with  manacled  hands,  he  was 
paraded  in  disgrace  on  his  way  to  prison. 

The  revolution  was  soon  accomplished.  Numbers  of  armed  men 
came  in  from  the  country.  Andros  was  compelled  to  deliver  up  the 
keys  of  the  castle.  The  blustering  lieutenant,  who  commanded  the 
frigate  after  the  capture  of  the  captain,  found  it  expedient  to  surren- 
der. The  fort  was  occupied  by  the  militia.  The  proclamation  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  had  not  yet  been  received;  but  the  people  assumed 

NO.  xii.  56 


442         ROYAL   TYRANNY,  AND   THE   SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY. 

their  old  privileges,  and  most  of  the  towns  voted  to  resume,  the  old 
charter.  Representatives  were  chosen,  and  once  more  the  general  court 
assembled. 

Plymouth,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  soon  received  the  news 
of  the  proceedings  in  Boston,  and  each  in  turn  speedily  subverted  .the 
government  established  by  Andros,  and  re-established  the  one  which 
he  had  overturned.  The  mysteriously  rescued  charter  of  Connecticut 
was  brought  from  its  hiding-place,  and  the  closed  records  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly  were  again  opened.  The  people  of  Rhode  Island,  with 
one  mind,  voted  "to  lay  hold  of  our  former  gracious  privileges  in  our 
charter  contained."  The  sons  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  put  the 
agent  of  Andros  in  jail,  and  quietly  resumed  their  former  government 
under  the  compact  framed  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower.  Thus  did 
the  people  of  New  England  assert  their  rights,  and  foster  the  spirit  of 
liberty  and  independence  which  they  bequeathed  to  their  children. 
Three  quarters  of  a  century  later,  that  spirit,  in  all  the  colonies,  was 
displayed  with  increasing  energy,  and  contended  against  far  greater 
odds,  till  ultimately,  in  a  long  and  exhausting  war,  it  achieved  inde- 
pendence and  established  a  nation;  —  the  same  spirit  that  aroused  the 
citizens  of  Boston,  and  called  thither  the  armed  yeomen  of  Massachu- 
setts to  aid  in  the  overthrow  of  tyranny, — that  afterwards  mustered  the 
"  embattled  farmers  "  at  Concord  bridge,  and  defended  Bunker  Hill. 


LI. 


WITCHCRAFT. 


HEN  Europeans  first  settled  in  America,  the  belief  in 
witchcraft  was  universal  among  civilized  nations.  It 
had  come  down  from  the  dark  ages,  and  thousands  of 
victims  had  been  condemned  as  witches,  tortured,  and 
burned  at  the  stake.  Coming  to  a  vast,  unbroken  wil- 
derness, into  which  the  light  of  true  religion  had  never 
penetrated,  and  inhabited  by  heathen  who  were  believed 
to  be  worshippers  and  agents  of  devils,  the  superstition 
which  the  colonists  shared  in  common  with  all  people  of  that  age  was 
by  no  means  diminished.  The  mysterious  forest  seemed  the  fitting 
abode  of  evil  spirits,  who  were  more  powerful  here  than  elsewhere, 
because  of  the  incantations  of  the  Indians,  and  the  absence  of  the 
counteracting  influence  of  the  worship  of  God.  Romanist  and  Protes- 
tant alike  believed  that  here  they  had  to  contend  with  the  spirit  of 
darkness,  who  ruled  his  worshippers,  the  natives,  if  he  did  not  openly 
wage  war  upon  Christians.  The  more  strict  they  were  in  the  observ- 
ance of  religious  services,  the  stronger  was  this  belief;  and  among  the 
Protestants,  the  Puritans  of  New  England  were  the  most  ready  to  put 
faith  in  the  superstition.  Happily,  among  the  settlers  there  were  few 
of  that  class  of  evil-disposed  and  idle  persons,  railers  at  sacred  things 
and  experts  in  necromancy,  who  might  be  charged  with  dealings  with 
Satan,  and  who,  in  Europe,  furnished  the  great  number  of  victims  who 
suffered  for  witchcraft;  else  it  is  quite  probable  that  such  madness  as 
was  displayed  at  a  later  day  would  have  been  manifest  from  the  first. 

443 


WITCHCRAFT. 

But 'the  Puritans  were  not  alone  in  their  belief  in  witchcraft,  or  readi- 
ness to  punish  witches.  Even  under  the  mild  and  liberal  government 
of  Penn,  two  Swedish  women  were  indicted  for  witchcraft,  under  instruc- 
tions from  the  governor  himself;  and  they  escaped  by  reason  of  some 
defect  in  the  indictment,  rather  than  from  any  unwillingness  to  punish 
the  offence.  It  is  said  that  Penn,  on  one  occasion,  in  the  early  days 
of  Philadelphia,  when  a  woman  was  charged  with  being  a  witch  and 
riding  a  broomstick  through  the  air,  declared  there  was  no  law  against 
that  method  of  locomotion,  and  she  might  so  ride  as  often  as  she 
pleased;  but  if  this  be  true,  he  had  probably  modified  his  opinions 
if  he  prompted  the  indictment  of  the  Swedish  women. 

The  first  case  of  punishment  for  witchcraft  in  New  England  that 
is  recorded  took  place  in  1648.  Margaret  Jones,  of  Charlestown,  who, 
like  many  another  old  woman,  administered  "herbs  and  simples"  to 
the  ailing,  and,  as  is  usual  with  that  class  of  persons,  mingled  a  good 
many  superstitious  notions  with  her  prescriptions,  came  to  be  much 
feared  by  some  of  her  neighbors.  She  had  probably  acquired  some 
knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  roots  and  herbs  from  the  Indians,  and  it 
was  supposed  that  she  had  also  learned  some  of  their  sorcery,  especially 
as  she  had  some  disagreeable  qualities,  and  was  "  a  railer  and  liar  if 
not  a  witch."  She  took  no  pains  to  disavow  the  supernatural  powers 
ascribed  to  her,  but  on  the  contrary  encouraged  the  belief  in  them,  as 
it  made  her  more  of  a  terror  to  her  neighbors.  The  natural  result  of 
such  a  reputation  was,  that  she  was  accused  of  being  a  witch,  and 
practising  the  "  malignant  touch."  She  was  tried,  found  guilty,  and 
condemned  to  death.  She  was  executed  in  Boston,  in  June,  and  "  the 
same  day  and  hour  there  was  a  great  tempest;"  a  thunder-shower, 
common  at  that  period  of  the  year,  was  supposed  by  the  superstitious 
to  be  the  raging  of  the  spirit  of  darkness  at  the  punishment  of  his 
agent,  or  a  manifestation  of  his  delight  at  securing  her  soul. 

In  1651,  Mary  Parsons,  of  Springfield,  murdered  her  infant,  and 
otherwise  conducted  herself  so  insanely  that  she  was  thought  to  be  a 
witch,  —  the  only  way  of  accounting  for  her  singular  pranks,  accord- 
ing to  the  notions  of  some  of  her  neighbors.  She  was  indicted  for  the 
murder  of  her  child,  and  also  for  "  having  familiarity  with  the  devil  as 
a  witch."  At  the  trial,  the  evidence  was  not  sufficient  to  convict  her 


MISTRESS  ANN  HIBBINS. 


445 


on  the  latter  indictment,  and  she  was  acquitted;  but  she  confessed  the 
murder,  and  was  condemned  to  death. 

The  next  year,  Hugh  Parsons,  the  husband  of  Mary,  was  also 
charged  with  making  a  covenant  with  the  devil,  and  by  his  wicked 
practices  inflicting  injury  on  some  of  his  neighbors.  What  the  real 
trouble  was  with  the  Parsons  family  does  not  appear;  but  they  had  in 
some  way  become  obnoxious  to  some  of  the  good  peo'ple  of  Spring- 
field, and  their  resentful  dispositions  probably  suggested  witchcraft. 
Parsons  was  indicted  and  tried,  and  the  jury  found  him  guilty.  It  was 
necessary,  however,  that  the  verdict  should  be  approved  by  the  magis- 
trates, and  they  withheld  their  approval.  The  case,  therefore,  came 
before  the  general  court,  and  that  body  decided  that  the  charge  of 
witchcraft  was  not  sustained.  Parsons  escaped;  but  had  the  public 
mind  been  wrought  up  to  the  madness  shown  at  a  later  day,  there 
would  have  been  little  chance  for  him.  Hutchinson  intimates  that  a 
woman  in  Dorchester  and  another  in  Cambridge  were  condemned  and 
executed  as  witches  about  the  same  time  that  Mary  and  Hugh  Parsons 
were  tried;  but  the  colonial  records  do  not  mention  any  such  victims. 

A  more  notable  case  occurred  in  Boston  in  1656.  Mrs.  Ann  Hib- 
bins  was  the  widow  of  a  prominent  citizen,  and  the  sister  of  Deputy- 
Governor  Bellingham,  and  therefore  occupied  a  prominent  position. 
She  probably  had  a  shrewish  temper,  and  after  her  husband's  death 
she  managed  to  quarrel  with  her  neighbors.  When  a  waspish  woman 
unfortunately  gets  into  such  unpleasant  relations  with  those  about  her, 

t 

she  is  very  apt  to  go  from  bad  to  worse,  and  Mrs.  Hibbins's  sharp 
tongue  undoubtedly  did  not  spare  her  enemies.  Gossip  and  slander 
had  painted  her  worse  than  she  was,  and  she  retorted  in  no  measured 
terms,;  but  she  had  to  contend  alone  against  a  united  body  of  gossips 
and  persecutors.  At  first,  she  was  subjected  to  the  censure  of  the 
church;  but  that  had  no  effect,  unless  it  was  to  loose  her  tongue 
against  things  held  sacred  by  the  Puritans;  and  that  made  her  still 
more  odious.  She  was  sharp-eyed  and  keen-witted;  and  once,  when 
she  saw  two  of  her  persecutors  conversing  in  the  street,  she  railed  at 
them  for  talking  about  her,  and  charged  them  with  saying  certain 
things  which,  under  the  circumstances,  any  woman  might  have  guessed. 
But  this  was  proof  that  she  had  supernatural  powers  of  reading  the 


446 


WITCHCRAFT. 


thoughts  of  others,  or  hearing  their  whispers  when  far  removed  from 
her,  and  she  could  possess  such  powers  only  by  dealing  with  Satan. 
She  was  accordingly  accused  of  witchcraft,  and  was  tried  by  the  gen- 
eral court.  The  strongest  evidence  against  her  was,  that  she  had 
rightly  guessed  what  two  gossips  were  saying  about  her;  but  this,  with 
the  reports  current  concerning  her  violent  language  and  actions,  was 
enough,  and  she  was  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be  executed.  There 
were  those  who  defended  her  against  the  charge  of  witchcraft,  but 
their  efforts  in  her  behalf  were  fruitless,  and  they  only  succeeded  in 
bringing  themselves  into  trouble.  Joshua  Scottow,  a  citizen  of  respecta- 
bility, and  a  selectman,  who  testified  in  her  favor,  and  perhaps  used 
some  language  reflecting  upon  her  accusers,  was  punished  for  taking 
her  part,  and  was  obliged  to  write  a  humble  apology  therefor.  Efforts 
were  made  to  save  the  unfortunate  woman  from  the  gallows,  but  they 
were  unavailing,  and  she  was  executed;  but  in  the  last  hours  of  her 
life  she  manifested  less  of  the  supposed  characteristics  of  a  witch  than 
some  of  those  who  had  persecuted  her.  When  it  was  too  late,  there 
was  a  change  in  public  opinion,  and  the  accusers  of  Mrs.  Hibbins 
found  themselves  regarded  with  resentment,  and  shunned  for  bearing 
false  witness  against  her. 

Prosecutions  for  witchcraft  were  not  confined  to  Massachusetts ; 
several  cases  occurred  in  Connecticut,  where  the  accused  were  tried 
and  condemned  in  much  the  same  manner.  In  1662,  a  number  of 
women  were  accused  of  being  witches,  and,  when  brought  to  trial, 
one  of  them  made  the  most  preposterous  confessions  of  her  dealings 
with  the  devil,  which  were  accepted  as  true,  in  spite  of  their  absurd- 
ity. They  were  found  guilty,  and  condemned  to  death,  and  were  prob- 
ably all  executed. 

In  1679,  the  phenomena  known  in  later  times  as  "spiritual  manifesta- 
tions," occurred  at  the  house  of  one  William  Morse,  in  Ipswich,  where 
there  were  mysterious  rappings  and  violent  movements  of  furniture  and 
utensils,  which  not  only  disturbed  the  comfort  of  the  family,  but  brought 
them  into  disrepute  with  their  neighbors,  who  were  greatly  alarmed  at 
what  they  conceived  were  the  doings  of  Satan.  Caleb  Powell,  a  sea- 
faring friend  of  Morse,  who  visited  the  house,  and  was  not  prevented 
by  an  excess  of  piety  from  inquiring  into  the  phenomena,  was  convinced 


A    WITCH  CONDEMNED. 


447 


that  a  youth,  who  was  an  inmate  of  the  family,  was  the  cause  of  all  the 
trouble.  Pie  agreed,  if  permitted  to  take  this  youth  to  sea  with  him, 
that  the  house  should  be  rid  of  the  disturbances.  After  some  parley- 
ing, it  was  agreed  that  he  should  take  the  boy  to  sea;  and  with  this 
agreement  the  mysterious  commotion  ceased.  Powell,  however,  had 
the  propensity  of  many  sailors,  and  told  some  extravagant  stories  of 
his  experiences;  and  having  little  fear  of  the  devil,  talked  with  consid- 
erable freedom  about  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  and  his  power  to  exor- 
cise evil  spirits.  This,  with  the  fact  that  the  deviltry  ceased  when  he 
prevailed  upon  Morse  to  let  him  take  away  the  boy,  was  enough  to 
satisfy  some  of  the  neighbors  that  he  had  dealings  with  .the  devil;  and 
he  was  accused  of  witchcraft.  He  was  brought  before  the  magistrates 
of  the  county  and  tried.  The  evidence  was  not  sufficient  to  convict 
him,  but  the  court  found  "such  grounds  of  suspicion  of  his  dealing" 
with  Satan  that  he  was  obliged  to  pay  the  costs  of  his  prosecution. 

Though  Powell  was  acquitted,  the  belief  that  somebody  practised 
witchcraft  was  still  entertained  by  the  neighbors;  and  as  old  women  were 
supposed  to  be  the  most  ready  to  become  the  tools  of  Satan,  old  Mrs. 
Morse,  the  grandmother  of  the  troublesome  boy,  was  accused.  Her 
case  was  carried  before  the  Court  of  Assistants  at  Boston,  and  although 
the  evidence  against  her  was  exceedingly  frivolous,  she  was  convicted, 
and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  She  was,  however,  reprieved  till  the  next 
session  of  the  court;  and  afterwards,  from  time  to  time,  till  the  dep- 
uties, reflecting  the  popular  feeling,  expressed  their  disapprobation.  The 
magistrates,  however,  did  not  yield  to  the  outcry,  and  the  poor  old 
woman  remained  in  jail,  with  the  sentence  hanging  over  her,  till  she 
petitioned  to  have  her  case  disposed  of  one  way  or  the  other,  and  her 
suspense  ended.  There  was  not  much  in  her  conduct  while  so  con- 
fined to  sustain  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  and  after  a  long  confinement 
she  was  finally  released. 

For  some  years  after  this,  witchcraft  seems  to  have  subsided.  Those 
who  had  an  ambition  to  pretend  to  supernatural  powers  were  by  no 
means  numerous,  and  jealous  gossips  found  few  of  their  neighbors  whose 
conduct  was  open  to  suspicion  of  diabolical  practices.  But  in  1692,  the 
belief  in  witchcraft,  which  had  from  the  first  had  a  strong  hold  upon 
the  minds  of  most  of  the  people  of  New  England,  reached  a  climax 


448  WITCHCRAFT. 

in  the  delusion  which  prevailed  at  Salem.  It  is  not  intended  to  dwell 
upon  the  sickening  details  of  that  unhappy  period,  the  results  of  min- 
gled delusion  and  chicanery,  of  malice  and  religious  zeal,  of  false  tes- 
timony and  mockery  of  justice,  of  hysteria,  epilepsy,  and  conspiracy, 
and  cruel  acting.  Few  of  those  then  living  were  among  the  pioneers 
in  the  settlement  of  that  region,  but  they  inherited  the  belief  from  the 
earliest  colonists;  and  it  is  only  proposed  to  show,  briefly,  to  what  mad- 
ness this  credulity  could  be  carried  under  the  religious  system  of  the 
Puritans,  and  the  social  condition  of  the  colonists.  But  while  the 
delusion  in  that  little  village  was  remarkable  for  its  excess,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  it  was  by  no  means  peculiar  to  its  people,  or  the 
product  of  Puritanism;  for  while  "witches"  had  hitherto  been  rare  in 
New  England,  the  gallows  and  the  stake  had,  with  little  intermission, 
found  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  victims  in  Europe  condemned  for  this 
crime,  as  it  was  then  universally  considered  among  the  Christian 
nations.  As  in  many  other  delusions,  its  excess  here  wrought  its  cure, 
and  New  England  saw  the  folly,  and  abandoned  the  practice  of  pun- 
ishing an  imaginary  spiritual  oftence  long  before  its  penalties  were 
discarded  in  Europe. 

The  delusion  which  was  carried  to  such  excess  at  Salem  was  pre- 
ceded by,  and  perhaps  had  its  origin  in  certain  strange  proceedings  in 
a  respectable  family  in  Boston  in  1688.  The  children  of  Mr.  John 
Goodwin  began  to  behave  in  an  unaccountable  manner,  going  through 
various  contortions  of  their  bodies,  uttering  strange  cries,  apparently  suf- 
fering severe  tortures,  and  otherwise  showing  symptoms  of  some  mal- 
ady which  the  physician  could  only  account  for  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  bewitched.  They  barked  like  dogs,  mewed  like  cats,  and 
are  soberly  reported  to  have  flown  like  geese,  "  their  toes  barely  touch- 
ing the  ground."  One  of  them  was  exceedingly  expert  in  the  various 
performances,  especially  in  riding  an  imaginary  horse  about  the  house, 
which  was  done  with  such  skill  that  the  astonished  spectators  believed 
she  was  really  mounted  on  an  invisible  animal.  The  strange  conduct 
of  these  children  excited  general  interest  and  alarm,  the  belief  that  it 
was  caused  by  the  agency  of  evil  spirits  being  almost  universal. 

The  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  who  witnessed  their  proceedings,  and  who 
felt  that  by  virtue  of  his  office  as  minister  it  was  his  duty  to  fight  the 


COTTON  MATHER  AND   THE   GOODWIN  GIRL. 


449 


devil  in  this  attack  upon  some  of  his  flock,  took  the  most  expert  per- 
former into  his  family,  that  he  might  exorcise  the  evil  spirit  that  trou- 
bled her.  He  had  rather  a  sorry  time  of  it,  for  the  girl  played  all 
manner  of  pranks  upon  him;  sometimes  to  his  astonishment,  and  often 
to  his  great  annoyance.  She  would  read  in  the  Prayer  Book,  but  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  read  in  the  Bible,  and  this  was  supposed  to  be 
proof  positive  that  she  was  under  the  influence  of  Satan.  When  he 
spoke  to  a  visitor  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  successively,  she  guessed 
his  meaning,  but  when  he  spoke  in  the  Indian  tongue,  she  professed 
not  to  understand;  and  this  was  supposed  to  indicate  that  the  devil 
who  controlled  her  had  not  yet  mastered  the  language  of  the  aborigi- 
nes. She  was  artful  enough  to  humor  the  doctor's  belief  and  notions 
respecting  the  things  which  were  distasteful  to  the  evil  spirit,  and  she 
flattered  him  by  intimating  that  the  devil  could  not  come  into  his  study. 
She  did  not,  however,  content  herself  with  this  style  of  acting,  but 
sometimes  acted  with  great  violence,  disturbing  the  reverend  gentle- 
man while  writing  his  sermon  by  throwing  great  books  at  his  head, 
and  otherwise  annoying  him.  Dr.  Mather  probably  considered  even 
these  demonstrations  as  rather  complimentary  than  otherwise,  since  they 
indicated  Satan's  impotent  hostility  towards  him. 

While  this  girl  was  acting  at  Dr.  Mather's,  the  other  children  were 
performing  at  homo,  though  probably  with  less  effect,  since  the  most 
accomplished  actor  and  teacher  was  absent.  Boston  and  Charlestown 
ministers  held  a  fast  at  Mr.  Goodwin's  house,  and  thereby  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  youngest  child  was  relieved  from  its  sufferings.  But 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  demonology,  the  sufferers  must  be  afflicted 
through  some  human  agent  of  the  evil  spirits,  and  suspicion  was  fixed 
upon  a  weak  and  infirm  old  woman,  who  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  as 
the  witch  by  whom  they  were  tormented.  This  woman  had  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  Mrs.  Goodwin,  and  she  had  retorted  with  violent 
and  threatening  language.  She  was  a  poor  outcast,  weak  in  mind,  and 
a  Papist;  altogether,  she  was  just  the  person  to  be  accused  as  a  witch, 
and  it  was  assumed  that  she  was  the  agent  of  the  devil  in  afflicting 
the  children.  She  was  arrested  and  tried  for  witchcraft,  and  her 
answers  to  questions  which  she  did  not  understand  were  taken  to  be 
admissions  that  she  was  in  league  with  Satan.  She  was  found  guilty, 

NO.  xu.  57 


45° 


WITCHCRAFT. 


condemned  and  executed,  and  the  bewitched  children  were  in  due 
time  relieved. 

The  story  of  the  Goodwin  children  was  told  by  Cotton  Mather  in 
a  pamphlet  which  was  read  with  wonder  and  awe  in  most  of  the 
families  of  Massachusetts.  The  performances  of  the  boy  in  the  family 
of  Mr.  Morse,  already  mentioned,  were  also  recounted,  while  tales  of 
witches  in  England  were  the  most  thrilling  romances  —  and  the  only 
ones  —  of-  the  day.  That  all  these  tricks  and  tortures  were  the  doings 
of  Satan,  neither  Mather  nor  his  readers  doubted,  and  an  uneasy  feel- 
ing pervaded  the  community,  which  was  easily  stirred  by  a  recurrence 
of  similar  events. 

Whether  prompted  by  a  growing  disquietude  respecting  the  super- 
natural, by  Cotton  Mather's  account  of  the  performances  of  the  Good- 
win children,  or  by  the  wild  suggestions  of  an  Indian  woman,  a  number 
of  girls  in  Salem  village,  an  outlying  district  of  Salem  town,  were  in 
the  habit  of  meeting  at  the  house  of  Rev.  Mr.  Parris,  the  minister  of 
the  village,  to  practise  fortune-telling  and  necromancy,  or  tricks  which 
had  the  appearance  of  the  supernatural.  They  were  of  various  ages, 
from  eleven  to  twenty  years,  —  one  of  them  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Parris, 
others  the  daughters  of  substantial  residents,  or  servants  in  their  fam- 
ilies. With  them  was  joined  an  Indian  woman,  named  Tituba,  who 
had  been  brought  as  a  slave  from  New  Spain  in  the  family  of  Mr. 
Parris.  This ,  woman,  who  was  full  of  the  superstition  of  her  race, 
probably  gave  direction  to  the  proceedings  of  the  girls  which  resulted 
in  the  sad  scenes  which  followed. 

At  first  they  confined  themselves  to  tricks  in  which  they  became 
quite  expert,  and  exhibited  them  to  the  astonishment  of  their  friends. 
They  next  indulged  in  strange  antics  which  were  so  much  like  the  wild 
proceedings  of  Indian  sorcerers  and  their  dupes,  that  their  origin  might 
well  be  ascribed  to  the  teachings  of  Tituba.  They  would  apparently 
be  seized  with  spasms  and  fits,  drop  insensible  on  the  floor,  and  writhe 
in  fearful  tortures.  With  some  these  sufferings  were,  perhaps,  the  effects 
of  imagination;  but  with  others  they  were  undoubtedly  mere  pretences. 
As  they  attracted  notice,  they  very  naturally  increased  in  frequency  and 
violence,  and  created  great  alarm  among  their  friends.  The  village 
physician  was  called,  and  having  neither  sufficient  acumen  to  see  through 


THE  AFFLICTED   CHILDREN  OF  SALEM. 


45* 


the  acting,  nor  sufficient  skill  to  prescribe  a  remedy  for  such  apparent 
suffering,  he  gravely  decided  that  the  children  were  bewitched:  a  con- 
clusion to  which  the  medical  men  of  that  day  not  infrequently  came 
in  cases  which  they  could  not  comprehend.  "  The  malignant  touch " 
of  some  one  who  had  become  the  agent  of  the  devil  was  declared  to 
be  the  cause  of  these  tortures.  The  prevailing  belief  in  witchcraft 
accepted  this  decision  of  the  doctor  as  reasonable  and  only  too  cor- 
rect; and  the  whole  community,  with  a  few  exceptions,  became  greatly 
alarmed.  People  flocked  to  see  the  children  in  their  tortures  and  con- 
vulsions, and  the  tortures  and  convulsions  increased  with  the  increasing 
interest  in  them.  They  were  not  confined  to  private  dwellings  and 
week-days,  but  came  at  last  to  be  exhibited  on  Sunday,  in  the  meet- 
ing-house, greatly  to  the  disturbance  of  the  exercises.  Ministers  were 
then  called  to  consider  the  matter;  and  the  ministers  agreed  with  the 
doctor,  that  it  was  the  work  of  Satan,  grown  more  bold  than  ever. 

Doubtless,  while  the  alarmed  spectators  beheld  the  "afflicted  chil- 
dren," as  they  were  called,  taking  for  granted  that  they  were  suffering 
from  an  "  evil  hand,"  it  was  asked  in  whispers  who  was  the  wicked 
instrument  through  whom  the  devil  wrought  this  mischief.  :t  Who  is 
the  witch?"  was  a  fearful  whisper  heard  by  the  children.  It  was  one 
which  very  soon  they  were  called  upon  to  answer;  and  then  the  art- 
fulness and  acting  6f  some  of  these  girls  were  called  more  seriously 
into  play.  Did  they  confer  together  to  select  the  persons  to  be  accused? 
They  had  ample  opportunity  to  do  so;  and  when,  at  last,  they  were 
urged  to  say  who  it  was  that  bewitched  them,  they  unitedly  pro- 
nounced the  names  of  three  women,  two  of  whom  —  Sarah  Good  and 
Sarah  Osborn  —  were  persons  of  whom  the  community  were  ready  to 
believe  anything  bad;  and  the  other  was  Tituba,  the  Indian  woman, 
who  was  named  with  deliberate  cunning,  in  order  better  to  carry  out 
the  imposture. 

Meanwhile,  the  excitement  in  the  community  had  reached  such  a 
height  that,  under  the  lead  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parris,  in  whose  house  had 
been  commenced  the  folly  and  tricks  which  led  to  the  wicked  accusa- 
tions, there  was  a  general  demand  for  the  prosecution  of  the  accused. 
Two  of  the  magistrates  residing  in  the  vicinity,  Hathorne  and  Corwin, 
were  called  upon  to  issue  warrants  for  the  arrest  of  the  supposed 


45  2 


WITCHCRAFT. 


witches,  and  to  examine  them.  The  magistrates  shared  in  the  general 
belief  in  the  "bewitched"  condition  of  the  "afflicted  children,"  and 
entered  upon  the  examination  with  minds  convinced  in  advance  of  the 
guilt  of  the  accused.  The  children  went  through  their  contortions,  and 
cried  out  that  the  accused  were  torturing  them;  and  the  magistrates, 
assuming  that  it  was  all  true,  sought  by  leading  questions  to  obtain 
some  admission  from  the  unfortunate  women  that  should  condemn 
them.  They  persisted  in  their  innocence,  except  Tituba,  who  con- 
fessed that  she  had  dealings  with  the  devil,  and  by  her  confession  and 
artful  answers  confirmed  the  belief  in  the  guilt  of  the  others.  After  a 
mockery  of  judicial  examination  they  were  committed  for  trial. 

The  "  reign  of  terror "  was  thus  commenced ;  and  having  once 
begun  their  accusations,  the  "  afflicted  children  "  soon  named  others  as 
their  tormentors,  while  the  prosecutors  increased  in  zeal  and  in  num- 
bers. Persons  of  good  social  position  and  of  excellent  and  pious  life 
were  accused,  especially  such  as  were  not  carried  away  by  the  delu- 
sion. They  were  examined  in  the  same  prejudiced  manner,  the  chil- 
dren becoming  more  and  more  expert  in  their  manifestations  of  torture, 
and  more  artful  in  their  methods  of  accusation.  The  excitement  spread 
through  the  colony,  and  people  came  from  far  and  near  to  witness  the 
examinations  and  the  pretended  torments  of  the  "  afflicted  children." 
The  latter,  too,  were  reinforced  by  the  accession  of  several  married 
women  to  their  number.  A  special  court  was  convened  for  the  examina- 
tion of  the  increasing  number  of  the  accused,  and  the  ministers  united  in 
urging  on  the  prosecutions,  that  the  schemes  of  Satan  might  be  defeated. 
Sermons  were  preached  to  arouse  magistrates  and  people  to  proceed 
with  the  greatest  rigor  against  all  the  instruments  of  the  devil,  and  the 
whole  religious  and  social  life  of  the  community  was  engrossed  with 
the  delusion.  The  few  who  were  not  carried  away  by  it  were  accused, 
or  in  great  danger  of  being  accused  as  witches. 

This  sad  state  of  affairs  was  brought  about  by  the  acting  of  most, 
with  perhaps  the  effects  of  imagination  on  others  of  the  "  afflicted  chil- 
dren." "These  girls,"  says  Upham,  "by  long  practice  in  ?the  circle,' 
and  day  by  day,  before  astonished  and  wondering  neighbors  gathered  to 
witness  their  distresses,  and  especially  on  the  more  public  occasions  of 
the  examinations,  had  acquired  consummate  boldness  and  tact.  In 


ACTING   Of  THE  AFFLICTED   CHILDREN.  453 

simulation  of  passions,  sufferings,  and  physical  affections;  in  sleight  of 
hand,  and  in  the  management  of*  voice,  and  feature,  and  attitude,  —  no 
necromancers  have  surpassed  them.  There  has  seldom  been  better 
acting  in  a  theatre  than  they  displayed  in  the  presence  of  the  aston- 
ished and  horror-stricken  rulers,  magistrates,  ministers,  judges,  jurors, 
spectators,  and  prisoners.  No  one  seems  to  have  dreamed  that  their 
actings  and  sufferings  could  have  been  the  result  of  cunning  or  impos- 
ture. .  .  .  The  prisoners,  although  conscious  of  their  own  innocence, 
were  utterly  confounded  by  the  acting  of  the  girls.  The  austere  prin- 
ciples of  that  generation  forbade,  with  the  utmost  severity,  all  theatrical 
shows  and  performances.  But  at  Salem  village  and  the  old  town,  in 
the  respective  meeting-houses,  and  at  Deacon  Nathaniel  IngersolPs, 
some  of  the  best  playing  ever  got  up  in  this  country  was  practised; 
and  patronized,  for  weeks  and  months,  at  the  very  centre  and  heart  of 
Puritanism,  by  'the  most  straitest  sect'  of  that  solemn  order  of  men. 
Pastors,  deacons,  church-members,  doctors  of  divinity,  college  professors, 
officers  of  state,  crowded,  day  after  day,  to  behold  feats  which  have 
never  been  surpassed  on  the  boards  of  any  theatre;  which  rivalled  the 
most  memorable  achievements  of  pantomimists,  thaumaturgists,  and 
stage-players;  and  made  considerable  approaches  towards  the  best 
performances  of  ancient  sorcerers  and  magicians,  or  modern  jugglers 
and  mesmerizers." 

What  relation  the  conduct  and  acting  of  the  "afflicted  children" 
bear  to  the  phenomena  of  modern  "spiritualism"  may  be  an  interest- 
ing question  to  those  who  believe  that  such  performances  were  invol- 
untary; but  the  exposed  tricks  of  recent  times  may  well  lead  one  to 
believe  that  deception  was  not  an  unknown  art  in  1692.  Malice  and 
revenge  for  real  or  fancied  affronts  were  too  evidently  the  motives  of 
some  of  these  false  accusers,  —  fhe  real  evil  spirits  that  caused  so  much 
excitement  and  anguish,  acting  not  through  the  unfortunate  victims,  but 
through  these  pretenders.  If  some  were  carried  away  by  imagination 
and  a  thoughtless  zeal  to  perform  their  part  well,  the  elder  girls,  who 
gave  direction  to  the  tragedy,  were  the  cool,  calculating  actors  who 
were  moved  by  malice  and  cunning. 

When  the  jails  were  filled  with  the  accused,  and  the  unfortunate 
victims  were  brought  to  trial,  the  court  and  juries  shared  in  the  gen- 


454  WITCHCRAFT. 

eral  excitement,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  ministers  manifested  a 
readiness  to  do  their  part,  "  that  Satan's  kingdom  might  be  suppressed, 
weakened, -brought  down,  and  at  last  totally  destroyed."  Convictions 
were  easy  on  the  absurd  testimony  which  was  presented,  and  when  a 
jury  once  acquitted  one  of  the  accused,  the  court  refused  to  receive 
the  verdict,  and  sent  them  back  to  find  the  friendless  victim  guilty. 
Not  to  dwell  upon  the  sad  story,  many  convictions  had  taken  place, 
and  condemnation  to  death  promptly  pronounced  against  the  convicts; 
a  score  of  unfortunates  were  led,  amid  the  jeers  of  the  spectators,  up 
to  the  "Witches'  Hill"  in  Salem,  and  died  upon  the  gallows;  but  still 
the  jails  were  full  of  the  accused,  and  the  charges  continued,  —  per- 
sons of  more  and  more  note  in  social  position,  and  even  young  and 
guileless  children,  being  selected  as  the  culprits.  Thoughtful  men  began 
to  ask  when  these  mad  proceedings  would  end.  One  fearful  punish- 
ment appalled  all  but  the  craziest  and  most  violent  of  the  prosecutors. 
Giles  Corey,  whose  wife  had  been  one  of  the  earliest  accused,  and 
whose  testimony  had  unintentionally  sustained  the  charge,  was  at  a  later 
day  himself  charged  with  witchcraft.  That  his  property  might  not  be 
taken  from  his  heirs  by  attainder  if  he  were  convicted  and  hanged,  he 
refused  to  plead.  Several  times  he  was  arraigned,  but  he  firmly  adhered 
to  his  resolution  neither  to  plead  "guilty"  nor  "not  guilty."  The  court 
was  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed;  but  at  last  resorted  to  an  old  law  of 
England,  and  condemned  the  stern  old  man  to  be  pressed  to  death  by 
heavy  weights.  The  terrible  sentence  was  carried  into  effect.  The 
gradually  increased  pressure  could  not  change  the  sufferer's  purpose, 
and  he  only  bade  the  executioners  "  pile  on  more  weights "  to  end  the 
torture.* 

* 

A  few  who  had  already  been  condemned  were  executed  after  this 
terrible  death  had  been  inflicted  on  Giles  Corey.  But  enough  lives 
had  been  sacrificed,  and  a  fierce  reaction  began  in  the  public  mind. 

* 

Even  Cotton  Mather  and  other  ministers,  who  had  urged  on  the  pros- 
ecutions, began  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of  their  work.  The  judges  who 
had  condemned  the  victims  repented  of  their  zeal,  and  some,  through 

*  The  case  of  Giles  Corey  and  his  wife,  Martha,  is  the  subject  of  one  of  Mr.  Longfellow's 
"  New  England  Tragedies,"  in  which  the  spirit  of  the  proceedings  and  the  character  of  the  par- 
ties are  portrayed  with  close  adherence  to  the  tragic  reality. 


THE  RESULTS  AND  THE  END.  455 

the  remainder  of  their  lives,  bore  a  heavy  burden  on  their  consciences. 
Those  who  had  busied  themselves  as  accusers  were  looked  upon  with 
aversion.  The  jails  were  opened,  and  the  survivors  of  the  accused 
were  permitted  to  return  to  their  homes.  One  hundred  and  fifty  were 
thus  discharged,  besides  a  number  of  children  who  had  been  detained 
in  private  houses.  In  all,  several  hundred  had  been  accused.  The 
delusion,  produced  by  the  foolish  pranks,  followed  by  the  wicked 
devices  of  some  young  girls  who  were  carried  away  by  their  imagina- 
tions or  their  malice,  had  resulted  in  the  death  of  a  score  of  innocent 
persons,  and  had  brought  mourning,  estrangement,  remorse,  to  the  com- 
munity; but  it  brought  to  light  a  better  reason,  and  ended  the  perse- 
cution of  alleged  witches. 


LII. 


BETWEEN   THE    LINES   OF    HISTORY. 


||T  has  been  suggested  by  one  who  takes  a  genial  view 
of  life,  and  who  has  studied  human  nature,*  that  certain 
pleasant  experiences  may  be  written  between  the  lines 
of  New  England  history  :  the  attempts  of  youth  to 
enjoy  the  things  of  youth,  —  new  ribbons  or  new  vests,  — 
songs  other  than  psalms,  —  love,  —  walks  of  young  men 
and  maidens  together,  —  possibly  a  frolic  in  some  out- 
lying farm-house,  whose  inmates  were  not  so  austere  as 
to  forbid  it,  or  whose  absence  offered  a  golden  opportunity.  The  grave 
chroniclers  of  the  early  days  were  ignorant  of  these  episodes  in  the 
staid  life  of  the  Puritan  colonies,  or  omitted  them  as  frivolous  and 
wicked  devices.  Yet  who  can  doubt  that,  notwithstanding  all  the 
restraints  that  hemmed  it  about,  youth  would  still  be  youth,  and  in 
spite  of  homily  and  reproof  would  sometimes  steal  the  pleasures  which 
austere  elders  were  disposed  to  deny  it?  Indeed,  here  and  there  in  the 
pages  of  sober  historians  we  have  glimpses  of  the  working  of  human 
nature  for  its  own  enjoyment,  while  the  records  of  the  courts  show  the 
punishments  which  sometimes  followed.  In  the  absence  of  pious  elders 
who  felt  the  weight  of  the  church  on  their  shoulders,  the  younger 
members  of  their  families  would  have  a  frolic,  the  pleasures  of  which 
were  too  soon  brought  to  an  end  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  the 
scandalized  parent. 

Not  all  who  came  over  were  church-members,  nor  very  austere  in 


*  Robert  Collyer. 


45  6 


AN  OUTLYING  FARM-HOUSE. 


457 


their  notions,  though  they  were  good,  orderly  people,  who  were  glad 
enough  to  bear  with  the  austerity  of  the  Puritan  leaders,  so  they  could 
escape  ecclesiastical  oppression  in  England.  Thrifty  and  industrious, 
they  were  good  farmers  and  good  citizens.  We  may  imagine  the 
homes  of  this  class,  at  least,  as  not  always  governed  by  over-strict 
rules  to  cloud  the  sunshine  of  the  young.  And  among  the  church- 
members  there  was  not  always  that  severity  of  countenance  or  of 
thought  which  would  prohibit  all  mirth  or  pleasure,  if  it  were  not  the 
sacred  Sabbath-time,  or  a  day  set  apart  for  humiliation  and  fasting. 

Let  the  reader  picture  to  himself  one  of  these  "  outlying  farm- 
houses "  after  the  early  years  of  peril  and  hardship  had  passed.  A 
frame  house  of  stout  oaken  beams,  covered  with  rough  boards  that 
grew  dark  under  sunshine  and  storm,  one  story  in  height,  with  a  high, 
thatched  roof  that  in  the  rear  sloped  nearly  to  the  ground,  affording 
ample  room  for  the  family,  who  did  not  desire  each  a  separate  apart- 
ment. In  the  centre  a  huge  stone  chimney  divided  the  house  into  a 
spacious  kitchen  on  the  one  side  and  sleeping-rooms  on  the  other.  In 
the  former  was  a  wide  fireplace,  in  which  could  be  piled  K  back-logs  and 
fore-sticks  "  four  or  five  feet  long,  and  yet  afford  room  for  children  to 
sit  against  the  comfortable  jambs.  High  up  in  the  mouth  of  the  chim- 
ney, where  the  smoke  constantly  ascended,  hung  a  store  of  bacon  for 
future  use.  Along  the  beams  and  joists  that  supported  the  garret  floor 
hung  strings  of  dried  apples,  and  golden  pumpkins  for  the  Thanksgiv- 
ing pies,  and  here  and  there  a  bunch  of  savory  herbs  which  the  good- 
wife  had  carefully  raised  and  preserved  for  pleasant  seasoning  to  her 
dishes,  or  bitter  but  wholesome  draughts  for  the  ailing. 

At  evening,  around  the  spacious  hearth,  the  family  gathered  for  an 
hour  or  two  of  homely  tasks.  The  blazing  pine  knots  afforded  a  light 
which  put  to  shame  the  tallow  candle  on  the  table.  The  goodman 
and  his  hired  man  repaired  some  farming  implement,  or  nailed  new 
soles  upon  their  heavy  shoes.  The  goodwife  at  her  spinning-wheel 
spun  the  yarn  with  which  the  grown-up  maidens  knit  long  hose.  On 
the  hearth  the  smaller  children  roasted  chestnuts  from  the  ample  store 
they  had  gathered  in  the  woods.  Nor  were  these  various  employments 
carried  on  in  silence  and  under  stern  restraint.  The  children  laughed 
over  their  bursting  chestnuts;  the  goodman  told  of  his  exploits  at  the 

NO.  xir.  58 


458    ^  BETWEEN  THE  LINES  OF  HISTORT. 

plough,  and  challenged  his  man  to  a  contest  in  felling  trees.  The 
goodwife  gave  pleasant  instruction  to  her  daughters  in  spinning  or 
knitting,  or  told  some  story  of  her  youthful  days  in  Old  England.  If 
the  maidens  were  a  little  demure,  their  eyes  would  sometimes  wander 
towards  that  hired  man,  —  a  frank-faced,  hearty  lad,  —  and  they  smiled 
approval  when  he  accepted  their  father's  challenge,  and  laughed  out- 
right at  some  sally  of  his  wit. 

Though  not  austere,  these  good  people  were  religious;  and  ere  the 
pine  knots  were  burnt  out,  they  laid  aside  their  work,  and  the  good- 
man  read  aloud  in  the  Bible,  —  almost  the  only  book  the  house  could 
boast,  —  and  offered  up  a  prayer.  And  then  the  boys  ran  a  race  for 
their  bed,  the  girls  disappeared  more  quietly,  and  the  elders,  carefully 
raking  up  the  fire,  and  covering  it  with  ashes,  soon  followed  the  others 
to  rest.  It  was  an  early  hour;  but  long  before  the  dawn  they  must  be 
up  at  their  morning  tasks. 

In  the  quiet  autumn  days  at  such  a  farm  there  were  sometimes 
more  joyous  occasions.  When  the  harvest  was  gathered,  and  a  goodly 
stock  of  ripened  ears  of  corn  was  piled  in  the  barn,  the  young  people 
gathered  for  a  husking-frolic,  when  work  and  pleasure  were  combined. 
Rapidly  the  crisp  husks  were  stripped  from  the  golden  ears,  with  many 
a  joke  and  peal  of  laughter.  If  at  first  some  of  the  youths  were  bash- 
ful, and  some  of  the  girls  demure,  numbers  of  like  youthful  age  soon 
put  to  flight  all  excessive  shyness,  and  young  men  and  maidens  min- 
gled their  voices  in  the  merry  din,  pelted  each  other  with  the  harm- 
less husks,  and  eagerly  watched  for  the  appearance  of  the  red  ear, 
which  brought  a  half-desired,  half-shunned  reward.  There  was  no 
reproving  elder  to  stop  the  fun;  only  the  mild-eyed  cattle  looked  on 
in  wonder  at  the  unwonted  scene.  If  the  good  man  for  whose  benefit 
this  merry  labor  was  performed  should  chance  to  come  near,  he  wisely 
kept  out  of  sight,  that  he  might  not  mar  the  joy,  or  hinder  the  busy 
hands. 

The  sun  had  set,  and  deepening  shadows  gathered  in  the  barn  ere 
the  corn  and  husks  were  parted.  When  the  work  was  finished,  and 
a  great  heap  of  golden  ears  lay  before  them,  the  girls  retired  to  the 
house,  while  the  young  men  gave  the  impatient  cattle  their  evening 
meal,  and  finished  the  farmer's  "  chores,"  and  then  with  glad  expec- 


SOCIAL   MEETINGS.— THANKSGIVING. 


459 


tation  followed,  bearing  the  foaming  pails  of  milk.  In  the  house  they 
found  a  bountiful  table  spread,  and,  with  appetites  sharpened  by  their 
toil  and  merriment,  promptly  attacked  the  plain  but  abundant  fare. 
"  Many  a  sweet  thing  was  whispered  behind  a  doughnut,  and  many 
a  sentiment  lurked  in  a  pie."  These  young  men  and  young  women 
thus  becoming  acquainted,  were  by  no  means  too  austere  or  too  demure 
to  fall  in  love,  and  a  husking  frolic  often  led  to  love-making  of  the 
robust  sort  and  speedy  weddings.  There  were  not  many  long  court- 
ships in  those  days,  and  early  marriages  were  the  rule.  Land  was 
plenty;  and  industry  in  the  field  and  thrift  in  the  house  made  happy 
homes. 

But  social  meetings  were  not  confined  to  the  "  boys  and  girls."  The 
older  men,  indeed,  gave  little  time  to  such  enjoyment;  but  the  matrons 
were  somewhat  given  to  gossip  then  —  as  when  were  they  not?  "Spin- 
nings "  were  then  in  vogue,  and  the  thrifty  goodwives,  each  carrying 
her  spinning-wheel,  went  to  some  neighbor's  house,  where  they  entered 
into  a  lively  competition  in  spinning  yarn  from  the  wool  of  her  little 
flock,  or  thread  from  the  flax  grown  on  her  farm.  At  such  gatherings, 
the  clatter  and  whirring  of  the  wheels  by  no  means  drowned  the  voices 
of  the  spinners.  All  the  events  of  the  neighborhood,  and  the  virtues 
and  faults  of  those  who  were  not  present,  were  freely  discussed.  The 
matches,  real  and  imaginary,  that  grew  out  of  .the  last  husking  frolics 
were  commented  on  in  a  manner  that  should  have  made  the  ears  of  some 
of  the  boys  and  girls  tingle.  Nor  were  these  dames  always  sweet- 
tempered;  ill-natured  remarks,  which  found  a  ready  repetition,  some- 
times caused  heart-burnings  and  sorrow,  and  perhaps  retaliation.  But 
let  us  hope  that  these  were  exceptions. 

In  1623,  after  the  Pilgrims  had  gathered  a  fair  harvest  on  their  little 
plantations,  Governor  Bradford  sent  out  a  party  to  hunt  for  game,  "  that 
they  might  have  more  dainty  and  abundant  things  for  a  feast,  and 
rejoice  together  after  they  had  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  their  labors."  That 
was  the  origin  of  the  New  England  Thanksgiving,  which  at  an  early 
day  became  a  regular  autumnal  festival.  The  Merry  Christmas  of  Old 
England  was  wholly  ignored,  and  even  abhorred  as  a  day  associated 
with  popery  and  with  the  persecution  of  the  English  hierarchy.  But 
as  Englishmen,  the  colonists  had  a  desire  to  enjoy  the  festivities  and 


460  BETWEEN  THE  LINES  OF  HISTORT. 

good  will  of  such  a  day,  and  they  accordingly  substituted  a  day 
appointed  by  the  magistracy,  which,  in  accordance  with  their  predom- 
inant religious  character,  was  first  of  all  a  day  of  pious  "thanksgiving 
and  praise,"  and  secondarily  an  occasion  for  feasting  and  good  cheer. 
In  the  lapse  of  time  the  good  cheer  has  come  to  be  the  chief  instead 
of  the  secondary  consideration.  Yet  the  New  England  Thanksgiving 
is  not  a  riotous  holiday,  but  a  home  festival,  —  a  day  for  the  reunion 
of  families  and  the  indulgence  of  the  pure  affections,  and  as  such  it  is 
a  precious  legacy  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  to  their  descendants. 

The  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  day  as  a  home  festival  has  come 
down  from  those  primitive  farm-houses  above  described.  Under  those 
humble  roofs  first  began  the  custom  of  family  gatherings  to  celebrate 
the  harvest  festivities.  Thither  came  on  that  day  children  who  had 
gone  forth  from  the  parental  roof  to  service  elsewhere,  or  to  establish 
new  homes,  the  less  fortunate  relative  who  had  no  other  home  to  wel- 
come him,  and  those  who  had  no  children  to  gather  around  their  board. 
Most  of  them,  according  to  custom,  had  attended  the  Thanksgiving 
services  at  the  "  meeting-house,"  and  having  fulfilled  this  pious  duty, 
they  came  prepared  to  devote  the  rest  of  the  day  to  homely  festivities 
and  pleasant  intercourse. 

Willing  hands  made  light  work,  and  in  due  time  the  table  was 
spread  with  an  abundance  of  good  cheer.  The  turkey  and  chickens, 
pampered  for  this  day's  feast,  appeared  in  a  dress  of  ruddy  brown,  the 
very  sight  of  which  was  appetizing.  The  garden  patch  furnished  its 
choicest  productions;  goodly  loaves  of  brown  bread  told  of  the  gener- 
ous yield  of  the  cornfields;  the  golden  pumpkin  appeared  in  tempting 
pies;  the  little  orchard  contributed  its  rosy  apples,  and  the  forest  its 
sweet  nuts.  A  portly  jug  of  cider  and  mugs  of  home-brewed  beer 
were  not  wanting  to  moisten  the  more  substantial  food.  Though  the 
formalities  of  more  aristocratic  tables  were  unknown,  the  company  did 
not  forget  to  bow  their  heads  while  the  host  asked  a  blessing  and 
gave  thanks  for  the  bountiful  provision  of  Providence.  Then  how  joy- 
ously the  feast  proceeded !  with  what  grateful  hearts  these  bounties 
were  partaken  of!  with  what  happiness  were  these  kindred  assembled 
once  more  around  the  hospitable  board  !  With  the  elders,  remem- 
brances of  former  days  and  more  straitened  circumstances  mingled  with 


THANKSGIVING  EVENING.  461 

thoughts  of  present  comforts  to  make  the  thanksgiving  more  genuine. 
The  young  recalled  the  toils,  the  exploits,  and  the  joys  of  childhood, 
recounted  the  experiences  of  the  past  year,  or  whispered  hopes  for  the 
future. 

When  the  feast  was  over,  the  women  cleared  away  the  fragments, 
while  the  men  repaired  to  the  barn  to  inspect  the  cattle,  to  guess  at 
the  weight  of  the  hay-mow,  to  tell  of  achievements  with  the  scythe, 
the  plough,  or  the  axe,  and  to  talk  of  the  various  interests  of  the 
farmer;  and  the  children  scrambled  to  the  woods  to  glean  a  few  more 
nuts,  or  chase  some  squirrel  that  ventured  from  his  winter  nest.  Twi- 
light brought  all  again  around  the  old,  familiar  hearth,  where  the  cheery 
fire  blazed  brightly,  and  threw  grotesque  and  dancing  shadows  on  the 
walls.  The  children  roasted  apples  and  chestnuts  over  the  coals,  jests 
passed  freely  among  the  young  men  and  women,  the  goodman  played 
a  game  of  draughts  with  his  eldest  guest,  —  corn  and  beans  being  the 
opposing  forces,  —  and  the  goodwife  told  some  quaint  tradition  of  the 
past.  An  early  hour  broke  up  the  little  circle  with  hearty  good-nights 
and  blessings.  The  guests  who  did  not  live  too  far  away  mounted 
their  rough  wagon  or  their  steady  horse,  the  young  wife  clinging  close 
behind  her  husband,  a  folded  blanket  serving  for  saddle  and  pillion, 
and  thus  they  rode  homeward  in  the  moonlight. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  "  outlying  farm-houses  "  that  we  may  read 
between  the  lines  of  history;  how  shall  we  read  the 'unwritten  tales  of 
life  in  the  larger  towns?  There  people  were  brought  closer  together, 
and  social  life,  if  restrained  by  stern  laws  and  austere  customs  among 
the  more  rigid  Puritans,  would  nevertheless  assert  itself,  and  would  not 
be  content  with  the  meetings  at  the  Sabbath  service  or  the  weekly 
lecture.  The  men  met  in  the  market-place  and  discussed  the  prices 
and  prospects  of  merchandise,  or  the  political  and  religious  questions 
that  divided  the  general  court  and  the  people.  The  women  visited, 
and  over  their  knitting  and  sewing  found  food  for  gossip,  and  some- 
times for  scandal,  in  the  doings  of  their  neighbors  which  were  scrupu- 
lously watched.  Fashion,  even  in  those  days,  and  among  the  Puritans, 
held  some  sway,  so  that  the  court  found  occasion  to  pass  sumptuary 
laws.  Many  of  the  settlers  of  the  wealthier  sort  brought  with  them 
the  notions  of  the  mother  country,  where  a  royal  court  and  wealthy 


462  BETWEEN  THE  LINES   OF  HIS  TORT. 

aristocracy  set  the  example  of  costly  and  stylish  dress,  and  demanded 
it  from  those  who  made  pretensions  to  gentle  birth  or  honorable  posi- 
tion. Boston  had  been  settled  but  a  year  when  some  of  the  women 
were  thought  to  be  extravagant  in  dress,  and  the  court  "  bade  the  Elders 
urge  it  upon  the  consciences  of  the  people  that  they  should  avoid  cost- 
liness of  apparel  and  following  of  new  fashions."  But  it  so  happened 
that  the  Elders'  wives  belonged  to  a  class  who  considered  dress  as  a  badge 
of  social  distinction,  and  this  attempt  to  check  fashion  did  not  accom- 
plish much.  At  a  later  day,  when  there  was  no  court  or  titled  and 
wealthy  aristocracy  at  hand  to  set  the  fashion,  and  stern  Puritanism 
was  in  the  ascendant  not  only  in  New  England  but  in  Old  England, 
fashion  had  comparatively  fewer  followers,  and  sumptuary  laws  were 
more  rigidly  observed.  But  custom  and  the  laws  allowed  some  distinc- 
tion of  class  in  dress,  and  of  course  there  were  some  who  went  as  far 
as  possible,  without  offending,  in  the  style  and  trimming  of  their  gar- 
ments; and  scarlet  bodices  and  costly  ruffs,  and  other  adornments  that 
grieved  the  austere  Puritan,  were  not  unknown  in  Boston. 

Spite  of  the  watchful  eyes  of  gossips,  young  men  and  maidens 
would  meet  and  walk  together  on  the  Common.  An  English  visitor 
about  the  year  1663,  in  a  description  of  Boston,  wrote,  "On  the  south 
there  is  a  small  but  pleasant  Common,  where  the  gallants,  a  little  before 
sunset,  walk  with  their  Marmalet-Madams,  as  we  do  in  Morefields,  till 
the  nine-o'clock  bell  rings  them  home  to  their  respective  habitations; 
when  presently  the  constables  walk  their  rounds  to  see  good  order  kept, 
and  to  take  up  loose  people."  Doubtless  there  was  much  courting  done 
in  those  days  on  that  Common,  where  soft  words  could  be  whispered 
more  freely  than  in  the  homes  of  the  fair  ones.  And  when  the  unwel- 
come curfew  rang,  how  slow  was  the  pace  of  some  of  the  happy  pairs, 
and  how  long  the  lingering  at  the  gate,  spite  of  constable  or  Mrs.  Grundy! 
Were  there  not  gay  times,  too,  for  these  young  folks  when  little  parties 
of  them  went  out  to  the  farms  at  Muddy  River?  A  good  long  row  it 
was  for  the  young  men,  in  their  deeply-laden  boat,  across  the  broad  "back 
bay,"  and  up  the  Muddy  River  winding  through  the  marshes  to  a  point 
where  the  wooded  upland  invited  them  to  debark.  There,  in  the  golden 
autumn  days,  was  there  not  many  a  merry  shout  and  laugh  as  the 
holiday  party  gathered  chestnuts  amid  a  shower  of  prickly  burs  shaken 


SECRET  TEARS.  463 

down  by  some  adventurous  climber?  A  return  by  moonlight  across 
the  shining  water,  a  slow  drifting  with  the  tide  to  prolong  the  pleas- 
ure, was  a  very  natural  way  for  youth  to  finish  the  excursion.  Per- 
haps there  were  some  dull  homilies  read,  and  some  tears  shed,  when 
the  truant  maidens  came  tardily  home;  but  the  homilies  were  soon 
forgotten,  and  the  tears  soon  dried,  as  newly  awakened  hopes  brought 
dreams  of  a  happy  future. 

The  Puritan  burial-place  was  no  blooming  garden  nor  shady  grove, 
beautiful  with  rural  art  and  costly  sculpture,  but  it  was  often  a  well- 
chosen  site  on  an  eminence  looking  out  upon  the  sea  or  down  upon 
the  homes  of  the  living.  Their  austere  notions  and  gloomy  faith  for- 
bade the  decoration  of  the  tomb  with  flowers,  or  that  pious  care  for 
the  last  resting-place  of  friends  and  kindred  which  characterizes  their 
descendants.  The  pathway  to  the  cemetery  was  seldom  trod  except  to 
fill  a  new  grave.  But  with  all  their  religious  austerity  which  looked 
apparently  with  so  little  love  upon  the  untenanted  "  tabernacle  of  the 
flesh,"  many  a  heart  yet  yearned  after  the  lifeless  forms  that  were  laid 
away  to  rest;  sometimes  a  bereaved  widow  or  stricken  mother  has  stolen 
away  from  formal  words  of  consolation  or  admonition,  and  sought  the 
desolate  burial-place  to  pour  out  her  human  grief  upon  the  grassy 
mound  that  covered  husband  or  child.  And  in  their  homes  the  few- 
memorials  of  the  departed,  trifles  though  they  were,  were  cherished  as 
the  dearest  treasures  of  those  human  hearts,  and  often  bedewed  with 
secret  tears. 


LIIL 

MAINE.-THE    POPHAM    COLONY    AT 
SAGADAHOCK. 


HE  same  year  that  a  settlement  was  made  at  James- 
town, in  Virginia,  under  the  auspices  of  the  London 
Company,  the  Plymouth  Company  fitted  out  an  expe- 
dition to  establish  a  colony  in  North  Virginia,  —  the 
name  of  Virginia  being  then  given  to  all  the  continent 
claimed  by  the  English.  Previous  to  that  time  both 
French  and  English  traders  and  explorers  had  visited 
the  coast  of  Maine,  and  had  claimed  the  country  for 
•their  respective  sovereigns.  Three  years  before,  De  Monts  had  attempted 
a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made  in  a  previous  chapter.  When  that  ill-chosen  place  was  aban- 
doned, and  a  better  situation  was  sought,  the  French  sailed  along  the 
coast,  entered  Penobscot  Bay,  Casco  Bay,  and  the  Kennebec,  where 
they  erected  a  cross,  and  formally  took  possession  of  the  country  in 
the  name  of  their  king.  They  found  places  which  invited  a  settlement; 
but  the  natives  were  unfriendly,  and  the  harbor  of  Port  Royal  seemed 
more  attractive.  Leaving  this  part  of  Acadia,  as  the  whole  region 
between  the  fortieth  and  forty-sixth  parallels  of  latitude  was  named  in 
the  grant  to  De  Monts,  they  returned  to  the  basin  of  Port  Royal,  and 
established  their  ill-fated  settlement  there. 

Previous  to  this,  Bartholomew  Gosnold  and  Martin  Pring  had  sev- 
erally visited  the  coast  under  the  English  flag,  and  laid  claim  to  it  in 
behalf  of  their  sovereign.  Traders  of  both  nations  had  even  before 

464 


WEYMOUTH    SAILING    UP    THE    PENOBSCOT. 


WETMOUTH  ON  THE  PENOBSCOT.  465 

this  touched  at  some  places  on  the  coast;  but  Pring  was  the  first  to  give 
any  account  to  the  English  of  the  shores  along  which  he  sailed,  as  Cham- 
plain  shortly  afterwards  was  the  first  to  describe  them  to  the  French. 
Pring  spoke  of  the  country  in  glowing  terms,  having  "goodly  groves 
and  woods,  and  sundry  sorts  of  beasts,"  while  the  neighboring  waters 
abounded  in  fish  superior  to  those  taken  at  Newfoundland. 

George  Weymouth,  sent  out  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  others 
in  order  to  maintain  the  English  claim  of  prior  possession,  reached  the 
coast  of  Maine  the  same  year  that  De  Monts  withdrew  to  Port  Royal. 
Touching  at  the  island  of  Monhegan,  he  sailed  among  the  islands  that 
stud  the  waters  of  the  coast  till  he  reached  a  pleasant  harbor,  which 
he  named  "  Pentecost  Harbor,"  near  the  mouth  of  St.  George's  River. 
Here  the  adventurers  landed,  and  visited  the  natives,  whom  they  found 
friendly,  and  regaled  themselves  on  fish  and  game.  They  were  highly 
delighted  with  the  country,  which  abounded  with  "  various  sorts  of  trees, 
besides  vines,  currants,  spruce,  yew,  angelica,  and  divers  gums,"  while 
on  the  shores  there  were  plenty  of  shell-fish,  some  of  which  contained 
pearls.  Here  they  planted  a  small  garden,  and  were  somewhat  amazed 
at  the  rapid  vegetation  of  the  seeds  and  growth  of  the  plants,  —  the 
first  planted  by  English  hands  in  Northern  Virginia.  From  Pentecost 
Harbor,  Weymouth  proceeded  to  Penobscot  Bay,  and  ascended  the 
river  in  a  pinnace,  carrying  a  cross  which  he  planted  at  the  end  of  his 
journey. 

As  they  sailed  up  the  broad  river  in  the  early  summer,  when  the 
forests  were  clothed  in  their  brightest  foliage,  and  the  grass  waved 
green  on  the  banks  and  in  the  shady  coves,  and  the  waters  sparkled 
in  the  rays  of  an  unclouded  sun,  the  voyagers  were  delighted  with  the 
country.  Some,  "who  had  been  travellers  in  sundry  countries  and  in 
most  famous  rivers,  affirmed  them  not  comparable  to  this,  —  the  most 
beautiful,  rich,  large,  secure  harboring  river  that  the  world  affordeth." 
Such  was  the  account  these  visitors  carried  back  to  England  of  the 
attractions  of  Northern  Virginia. 

The  intercourse  of  Weymouth  and  his  men  with  the  natives  had 
from  the  first  been  friendly,  and  a  profitable  trade  had  been  carried  on, 
in  which  the  English  exchanged  knives  and  trinkets  for  valuable  furs. 
But  at  last  a  dispute  arose,  and  Weymouth  seized  four  or  five  of  the 

NO.  xn.  59 


466        MAINE.  —  THE  POPHAM  COL ONT  AT  SA GADAHOCK. 

Indians  and  confined  them  in  the  hold  of  his  ship.  The  natives  were 
greatly  disturbed,  and  resorted  to  various  stratagems  \o  induce  the  Eng- 
lish to  leave  the  ship,  hoping  by  treachery  to  retaliate  for  the  impris- 
onment of  their  friends,  or  to  release  them.  Their  efforts,  however, 
were  fruitless;  and  soon  after  Weymouth  sailed  for  England,  carrying 
four  of  the  captives  with  him,  and  leaving  in  the  hearts  of  the  natives 
a  hatred  of  the  English  which  was  cherished  for  a  long  time. 

The  reports  brought  by  Pring  and  Weymouth  made  the  influential 
members  of  the  Plymouth  Company  more  anxious  to  plant  a  colony  -in 
so  attractive  a  region,  and  to  -reap  the  advantages  of  a  promising  trade. 
Lord  John  Popham  (Chief  Justice  of  England)  and  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges  took  especial  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  by  their  efforts  an 
expedition  was  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  colony.  A 
hundred  emigrants  were  enlisted,  besides  the  sailors,  and  they  were 
amply  provided  with  ordnance,  household  utensils,  agricultural  and 
mechanical  implements  and  supplies.  A  form  of  government  was  drawn 
up  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  grand  for  a  great  state,  which  its 
authors  undoubtedly  expected  the  colony  would  soon  become.  A  colo- 
nial council  was  created,  consisting  of  eight  members,  each  with  some 
sounding  title  of  office.  To  one  of  these,  George  Popham,  a  brother 
of  the  chief  justice,  was  given  the  chief  command,  and  Raleigh  Gilbert, 
a  nephew  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  was  the  second  in  rank. 

Leaving  England  the  last  of  May,  the  expedition  arrived  on  the 
coast  of  Maine  the  8th  of  August.  Touching  at  various  points,  the 
colonists  at  last  landed  on  a  small  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sagada- 
hock,  and  assembling  on  the  shore,  they  devoutly  thanked  God  for  their 
safe  arrival,  and  listened  to  an  appropriate  sermon  by  the  clergyman 
who  was  sent  out  as  the  spiritual  shepherd  of  the  flock.  The  patent 
was  read,  and  a  code  of  laws  promulgated;  and  these  formalities  com- 
pleted, the  adventurers  prepared  to  establish  themselves  in  their  new 
home.  Some  slight  buildings  were  erected,  and  wells  were  sunk  for 
water.  But  they  soon  found  that  they  had  made  a  poor  choice  for  the 
site  of  their  habitation,  for  the  water  was  brackish  and  nauseating,  and 
the  island  was  too  small  for  them  to  occupy  with  advantage,  and  too 
far  from  the  main  land  to  permit  a  free  intercourse  with  the  natives, 
from  which  they  hoped  to  profit.  They  therefore  abandoned  the  island 


THE  HARDSHIPS  OF  WINTER.  467 

and  proceeded  to  the  mainland  on  the  western  side  of  the  river,  where 
they  took  possession  of  a  peninsula  formed  by  the  sea  on  one  side  and 
a  creek  on  the  other.  It  was  a  pleasant  situation,  convenient  for  the 
purposes  of  trade,  and  well  adapted  for  habitation. 

Here  they  constructed  a  fort  and  one  large  house  and  barn,  as  well 
as  several  small  cabins,  which  they  found  were  altogether  too  slight 
for  protection  from  the  storms  and  cold  of  winter.  The  autumn  was 
far  advanced  when  their  buildings  were  completed,  and  the  snow-flakes 
had  commenced  to  fly.  What  the  winter  would  be  in  this  untried 
climate  they  were  utterly  ignorant;  but  they  made  such  preparation  as 
their  experience  and  the  increasing  cold  suggested.  Early  in  Decem- 
ber the  ships  which  brought  them  over  sailed  for  England,  leaving  only 
forty-five  of  the  hundred  emigrants  to  brave  the  rigors  of  the  winter, 
and  endure  the  hardships  of  a  life  in  the  wilderness. 

Two  of  the  Indians  whom  Weymouth  had  carried  to  England 
returned  with  Popham's  company  to  their  .native  land,  and  through 
their  good  offices  the  adventurers  established  friendly  relations  with 
the  neighboring  savages.  They  commenced  a  trade  in  furs  with  the 
"  Vashaba,"  or  great  chief  of  that  region,  and  with  enterprise  and  pru- 
dence might  have  driven*  a  prosperous  business.  But  like  most  of  the 
expeditions  fitted  out  at  that  time  from  Europe,  the  company,  with  the 
exception  of  the  leaders,  was  composed  of  reckless  and  thriftless  adven- 
turers if  not  criminals.  They  were  not  inclined  to  labor,  nor  to  prac- 
tise economy  or  fair  dealing  with  the  natives.  The  winter  was 
exceedingly  severe;  and,  unused  to  the  rigors  of  such  a  climate,  they 
suffered  severely  in  their  poor  habitations.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
under  such  circumstances  discontent  and  disorder  prevailed.  They  had 
a  good  supply  of  provisions  when  the  ships  left;  but  in  midwinter 
their  storehouse  was  burned,  and  they  lost  a  good  part  of  their  sup- 
plies. Sickness  prevailed,  though  not  of  a  fatal  character,  and  the 
settlers  were  thoroughly  disheartened.  The  Indians  of  the  neighbor- 
hood subsequently  had  a  tradition  of  another  misfortune  which  befell 
the  company.  It  was  said  that  a  quarrel  occurred  between  the  colo- 
nists and  the  natives  in  which  one  of  the  former  was  killed,  and  the 
others  were  driven  from  the  fort,  leaving  their  provisions,  arms,  and 
powder.  The  natives,  in  the  course  of  their  plunder,  broke  open  some 


468       MAINE.  —  THE  POPHAM  COL ONT  AT  SA GADAHO CK. 

casks  of  powder,  which,  becoming  scattered  near  a  fire,  was  ignited, 
and  the  whole  exploded  with  a  fearful  result.  A  number  of  Indians 
were  killed,  and,  what  was  of  more  serious  consequence  to  the  colo- 
nists, nearly  everything  in  the  fort  was  destroyed.  Dismayed  at  the 
report  and  the  destruction  they  witnessed,  the  Indians  supposed  that 
it  was  a  manifestation  of  the  anger  of  the  Englishman's  God,  and 
they  immediately  sought  to  make  amends  by  offering  a  renewal  of 
friendship. 

Whether  this  tradition  contains  the  truth,  or  the  storehouse  was 
burnt  through  their  own  carelessness,  the  result  to  the  colonists  was 
the  same.  They  were  reduced  to  a  short  allowance  of  food,  and  were, 
in  a  measure,  dependent  upon  the  natives.  They  suffered  more  se- 
verely from  the  cold,  and  before  spring  came  were  in  a  miserable  con- 
dition. George  Popham,  the  president  of  the  colony,  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Raleigh  Gilbert,  the  next  in  command;  but  it  may  well 
be  believed  that  the  imposing  frame  of  government  which  had  been 
provided  was  of  little  use  in  managing  these  half-starved  and  reckless 
adventurers. 

Meanwhile,  upon  the  return  of  the  ships  to  England,  preparations 
were  made,  through  the  influence  of  Lord  Popham  and  Gorges,  to  fit 
them  out  again  with  new  supplies  and  more  settlers.  The  vessels 
sailed  from  England  well-laden  with  provisions,  and  in  clue  time 
-arrived  at  Sagadahock.  But  they  brought  intelligence  that  wras  more 
important  in  determining  the  fate  of  the  colony  than  the  ample 
supplies.  Just  before  they  left  England,  Lord  Popham,  the  chief 
patron  of  the  enterprise,  and  Sir  John  Gilbert,  brother  of  Raleigh 
Gilbert,  the  new  president,  had  died.  This  intelligence,  coming  to 
men  already  disheartened,  put  an  end  to  the  attempt  at  settlement. 
Gilbert,  who  was  heir  to  his  brother's  estate,  found  it  necessary  to 
return  at  once  to  England,  and  none  of  the  other  high  officers  of  the 
company  felt  any  ambition  to  rule  over  a  colony  with  such  blighted 
prospects.  Instead  of  landing  the  supplies,  the  demoralized  adven- 
turers gladly  embarked,  and  returned  to  England,  carrying  with  them 
the  most  discouraging  accounts  of  the  rigors  of  the  climate  and  the 
hostility  of  the  natives.  The  country  which  in  summer  appeared  so 
attractive  to  Pring  and  Weymouth,  these  incapable  adventurers,  as  an 


END   OF  THE  POPHAM  COLONY.  469 

excuse  for  their  abandonment  of  the  enterprise,  represented  as  an 
intolerably  cold  and  sterile  region,  "not  inhabitable  by  our  English 
nation." 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  Popham  colony.  It  had  no  experienced 
leader,  accustomed  to  hardships  and  fertile  in  resources,  to  instruct  and 
encourage  the  adventurers  in  their  untried  difficulties.  The  principal 
men  were  gentlemen  whose  life  in  England  had  not  fitted  them  to 
endure  the  rigor  of  the  climate,  or  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  a  settle- 
ment in  the  wilderness.  Had  Captain  John  Smith  been  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  company,  by  his  energy,  bravery,  and  fertility  of  re- 
sources, he  might  have  made  the  colony  a  permanent  one;  but  without 
him  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  might  have  been  nearly  as  short-lived 
as  that  at  Sagadahock. 


LIV. 

MAINE. -PLANTATIONS   AND   TRADING-POSTS. 


[FTER  the  failure  of  the  Popham  colony,  no  attempt 
was  made  by  the  Plymouth  Company  to  plant  another, 
though  the  coast  was  frequently  visited  by  English  ves- 
sels for  fishing  and  trading  purposes,  and  at  various 
points  temporary  stations  were  established.  Though 
the  Plymouth  Company  was  negligent,  Gorges  was 
especially  anxious  that  the  English  claim  to  the  coun- 
try should  be  maintained  by  a  continual  occupation  of 
some  parts  of  it;  but  he  found  it  difficult  to  induce  any  parties  to  em- 
igrate for  the  purpose  of  settling.  He  encouraged  adventurers,  however, 
to  visit  the  shores  of  Maine,  and  sent  out  Richard  Vines  to  explore  the 
coast,  collect  facts  in  relation  to  the  country,  and  select  an  eligible 
situation  for  the  establishment  of  a  colony.  Vines  was  engaged  in  this 
business  at  the  time  of  the  pestilence  which  swept  away  large  numbers 
of  the  Indians  between  Narragansett  and  the  Penobscot,  several  years 
before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth,  and  he  passed  a  winter  in  the 
cabins  of  the  natives  during  the  prevalence  of  the  disease.  But  though 
the  Indians  were  stricken  down  with  it  all  about,  and  in  the  same  cab- 
ins where  the  Englishman  found  shelter,  neither  Vines  nor  any  of  his 
companions  were  attacked  by  it.  Vines  was  a  physician,  but  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  given  any  distinct  idea  of  the  character  of  the  fatal 
disease.  He  found  the  winter  more  tolerable  than  the  Popham  colo- 
nists had  represented  it,  and  the  country  sufficiently  attractive  to  induce 
him  to  make  further  visits,  and  to  obtain  from  Gorges  a  grant  of  lands 

470 


CAPTAIN  SMITH'S  FAILURE. 


471 


on  the  river  Saco.  He  was  at  Saco  in  1617,  and  between  that  year 
and  1623  he  established  a  settlement  there,  in  a  very  small  way,  and 
was  the  first  permanent  English  settler  in  Maine.  From  the  first  he 
took  pains  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  and  always  lived  on  friendly  terms 
with  them,  driving  a  profitable  trade  in  furs.  A  fair  explorer,  he  had 
given  Gorges  a  very  good  description  of  the  coast  and  the  character 
of  the  country,  and  when  established  af  Saco  he  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  region  in  that  vicinity.  In  1642,  he  went  up  the 
Saco  River  to  the  White  Mountains,  and  if  he  was  not  the  first  white 
man  who  visited  that  Alpine  region,  he  was  the  first  to  give  any 
idea  of  the  height  of  the  mountains  and  their  distance  from  the  coast. 
He  had  been  preceded  by  a  man  from  Exeter,  who  visited  the  moun- 
tains the  previous  year,  and  brought  back  wonderful  stories  of  the 
glittering  stones  he  saw. 

Previous  to  the  expedition  of  Vines,  Captain  Smith  explored  the 
coast  from  the  Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod,  and  subsequently  made  a  map 
of  it,  and  gave  to  the  country  the  name  of  New  England.  Smith's 
report  revived  the  desire  to  colonize  the  country,  and  he  labored  ear- 
nestly to  enlist  the  nobility  and  merchants  in  an  expedition  for  that 
purpose.  The  desire  to  colonize,  however,  was  greatly  in  excess  of 
the  desire  to  emigrate  for  the  purpose  of  settling  in  this  wilderness. 
He  succeeded  in  securing  the  outfit  of  three  vessels,  but  only  fifteen 
settlers  were  obtained,  and  these  were  hired  for  the  purpose.  Smith 
prepared  to  sail  in  the  spring  of  1617,  with  the  intention  of  commen- 
cing a  colony;  but  he  was  so  long  delayed  by  head  winds  that  he  finally 
abandoned  the  undertaking,  and  the  country  he  had  named  did  not 
experience  the  advantage  of  his  energy  and  ability  in  the  establishment 
of  a  settlement. 

The  Plymouth  Company,  having  obtained  a  new  and  more  favorable 
charter,  made  extensive  grants  to  Gorges  and  John  Mason.  The  Eng- 
lish claimed  the  territory  of  Acadia,  where  the  French  had  established 
some  settlements,  and  through  the  freebooter  Argall  had  asserted  their 
rights.  But  the  French  had  subsequently  maintained  possession  by 
continuing  their  small  trading-posts  ;  and  Gorges,  fearful  that  they 
would  extend  their  settlements  into  New  England,  a  part  of  which  at 
least  they  claimed  to  be  included  in  Acadia,  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 


472  MAINE.  — PLANTATIONS  AND  TRADING-POSTS. 

patent  from  the  king  granting  to  Sir  William  Alexander  of  Scotland 
the  greater  part  of  Acadia,  to  which  was  then  given  the  name  of  Nova 
Scotia.  It  was  intended  to  settle  the  country  thus  granted  with  Scotch 
emigrants;  but  the  attempts  made  were  not  very  successful,  though  Sir 
William  at  last  succeeded,  "  after  subduing  the  French,  or  removing1 

O  }  o 

them  to  Virginia,"  in  planting  one  colony  there,  and  holding  possession 
of  the  territory  until  it  was  transferred  by  treaty  to  the  French. 

Gorges,  having  thus  secured  a  barrier  against  French  aggression, 
projected  an  extensive  plan  for  colonizing  the  region  between  the  Mer- 
rimack  and  Sagadahock,  of  which  a  patent  had  been  granted  to  him 
and  Mason  under  the  name  of  the  "  Province  of  Laconia."  A  number 
of  merchants  and  others  were  induced  to  join  with  the  grantees  in 
forming  a  company  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  settlements  and 
prosecuting  the  fur  trade  and  fisheries.  Under  the  auspices  of  this 
company  a  number  of  vessels  visited  the  coast,  and  trading-posts  and 
fishing  villages  were  commenced,  some  of  which  became  permanent 
settlements. 

Monhegan  was  an  island  which  had  for  some  years  before  this 
been  frequently  visited  by  the  English  fishing-vessels,  and  occupied 
from  time  to  time  for  the  purpose  of  curing  fish.  In  1622,  through  the 
enterprise  of  Gorges  and  his  associates,  it  became  a  continuous  settle- 
ment, though  its  inhabitants  were  constantly  changing.  Similar  settle- 
ments or  plantations  were  soon  after  commenced  at  Sagadahock, 
Pemaquid,  Damariscotta,  and  some  other  places.  They  were  small 
affairs,  and  the  settlers  had  not  come  out  of  any  devotion  to  principle, 
or  to  escape  persecution,  like  the  Pilgrims  at  New  Plymouth,  but  for 
the  purposes  of  gain,  and  not  a  few  of  them  as  hired  servants  of  the 
merchants  in  England.  They  were,  however,  the  early  pioneers  in  the 
settlement  of  Maine. 

As  soon  as  colonization  was  commenced,  the  Plymouth  Company 
determined  to  unite  all  the  settlements,  including  New  Plymouth,  under 
one  civil  government.  They  accordingly  sent  out  Robert  Gorges  as 
governor-in-chief,  with  Francis  West  as  admiral,  and  William  Morrell, 
an  Episcopal  minister,  as  superintendent  of  religious  affairs.  Neither 
of  these  officers  met  with  much  success  in  their  respective  departments, 
and  were  quite  ignored  by  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  Gorges  and  West 


THE  ENTERPRISE   OF  GORGES. 


473 


succeeded,  however,  in  exciting  opposition  among  the  traders  and  fish- 
ermen, and  complaints  were  so  loud  in  England  that  the  Commons 
demanded  a  surrender  of  the  Plymouth  Company's  charter.  Gorges 
defended  the  company  with  great  spirit  and  ability ;  but  parliament 
complained  to  the  king  that  the  charter  was  a  grievance  to  the  nation 
which  they  desired  should  be  recalled.  Though  the  king  did  not  com- 
ply with  the  demand,  public  sentiment  was  so  strong  against  the  com- 
pany and  its  recent  proceedings  that  its  plans  and  expeditions  were 
abandoned,  and  Robert  Gorges  was  called  home. 

Disappointed  in  his  more  ambitious  efforts,  Gorges  determined  to 
plant  a  colony  at  his  own  expense.  He  selected  a  place  on  Agamen- 
ticus  or  York  River,  and  sent  out  a  party  of  emigrants  better  selected 
and  better  provided  for  the  founding  of  a  permanent  colony  than  any 
that  had  hitherto  come  to  the  coast  of  Maine.  There  were  artisans  to 
build  vessels  and  saw-mills  as  well  as  houses,  and  laborers  with  oxen 
to  clear  and  cultivate  the  ground,  and  to  get  timber.  It  was  designed 
to  be  a  self-supporting  colony,  and  Gorges  during  his  life  exerted  him- 
self to  make  it  successful  and  prosperous. 

When  Charles  I.  came  to  the  throne  of  England,  and  married  a 
French  princess,  the  marriage  treaty  provided  that  the  jurisdiction  of 
Acadia  should  be  resigned  to  France.  This  treaty  conflicted  with  royal 
grants  already  made,  and  created  not  a  little  feeling  among  the  English 
people  who  were  interested  in  the  trade  with  the  new  world.  Gorges 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  postponement  of  the  concessions  agreed  upon 
in  the  treaty,  and  Sir  William  Alexander  procured  from  the  king  a 
confirmation  of  his  grant.  The  king  also  resisted  the  demands  of  the 
advocates  of  free  fisheries  that  the  charter  of  the  Plymouth  Company 
should  be  revoked.  A  war  with  France  followed  soon  afterwards, 
during  which  there  were  few  attempts  to  establish  plantations  or 
trading-posts. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  rising  contention  between  the  king  and 
the  people  caused  great  numbers  to  desire  a  refuge  in  the  new  world. 
The  Plymouth  Company,  apparently  ignoring  the  patent  already  granted 
to  Gorges,  and  probably  with  his  acquiescence,  proceeded  to  make  new 
grants  of  the  territory  between  the  Merrimack  and  the  Penobscot  to 
the  various  applicants,  and  in  a  few  years  had  thus  conveyed  all  the 

NO.  xu.  60 


474 


MAINE.  — PLANTATIONS  AND   TRADING-POSTS. 


land  along  the  coast  between  those  rivers.  But  under  none  of  these 
patents  was  any  considerable  colony  established.  The  grants  were  made 
chiefly  to  English  merchants  and  others,  who  sent  out  agents  and  ser- 
vants to  commence  plantations,  but  had  no  idea  of  going  themselves. 
One  grant,  ridiculed  as  the  "  Plough  Patent,"  was  made  to  parties  who 
undertook  to  plant  a  small  agricultural  colony  at  Sagadahock.  It  con- 
sisted of  "ten  husbandmen,"  and  considerable  money  was  expended  in 
providing  for  improvements.  But  the  company  soon  became  dissatis- 
fied, and  at  the  end  of  one  year  abandoned  the  enterprise.  The  adven- 
turers who  came  to  Maine  at  that  period  had  a  great  contempt  for 
agriculture,  and  of  all  other  pursuits  except  the  fisheries  and  fur-trading. 

Among  the  patents  granted  at  this  time  was  one  of  a  tract  on  the 
Kennebec  to  the  Pilgrim  colony  of  New  Plymouth.  As  early  as  1625, 
the  settlers  at  Plymouth  had  sent  their  shallop  up  the  Kennebec  to 
trade  for  furs.  Before  that,  they  had  visited  Monhegan  for  provisions, 
and  had  learned  that  an  advantageous  trade  could  be  carried  on  in  this 
region.  In  1627,  they  had  procured  a  patent  to  secure  to  themselves 
the  exclusive  right  to  trade  on  the  Kennebec;  but  the  limits  of  the 
patent  and  the  privileges  granted  were  rather  indefinite,  and  when  other 
grants  were  rapidly  disposing  of  the  territory,  a  new  and  more  certain 
patent  was  obtained. 

For  many  years  the  Plymouth  people  maintained  their  trading-house 
on  the  Kennebec,  and  carried  on  a  fair  business  with  the  natives,  obtain- 
ing from  them  furs  which  were  subsequently  exchanged  for  the  supplies 
needed  by  the  colony.  The  trading-house  was  managed  by  a  master 
and  two  or  three  assistants,  and  their  trade  was  so  fairly  conducted, 
and  they  were  always  so  friendly,  that  the  Indians  found  no  cause  for 
complaint.  But  in  1639,  the  natives  of  that  region,  from  some  cause, 
were  short  of  provisions,  and  a  party  of  them  determined  to  take  what 
they  supposed  was  the  easiest  way  of  supplying  their  immediate  wants, 
namely,  to  kill  the  Englishmen  and  seize  their  stores.  To  put  their  plan 
into  execution,  they  happened  to  select  Sunday,  which  the  Plymouth  men 
observed  as  strictly  as  their  brethren  at  home.  Coming  stealthily  about 
the  house,  several  of  the  Indians  found  the  master  reading  his  Bible, 
and  his  usually  cheerful  face  wore  an  exceedingly  solemn  expression. 
When  they  entered  the  house,  he  was  greatly  disturbed  by  this  inter- 


TRADING-POSTS   OF  THE  PILGRIMS.  475 

ruption  of  his  meditations  and  desecration  of  the  quiet  Sabbath-time, 
and  he  received  them  with  a  cold  and  severe  manner  quite  unlike  his 
usual  friendly  and  familiar  greeting.  The  master's  solemn  and  perhaps 
angry  look,  and  the  book,  which  was  then  regarded  by  the  Indians  as 
a  supernatural  charm,  immediately  aroused  their  superstitious  fears,  and 
believing  that  he  had  divined  their  purpose  by  consulting  the  sacred 
pages,  they  abandoned  their  bloody  design. 

The  Plymouth  settlers  appear  to  have  been  quite  as  enterprising  as 
any  of  the  adventurers  who  established  trading-posts  on  the  coast  of 
Maine.  In  1626  they  erected  a  trading-house  on  Penobscot  Bay,  and 
opened  a  traffic  with  the  Indians  of  that  region,  exchanging  wampum, 
procured  from  the  Wampanoags  and  Narragansetts,  for  beaver-skins  and 
other  furs.  This  was  the  most  easterly  trading-post  of  the  English  on 
the  coast  of  Maine,  and  when  the  claims  of  France  to  Acadia  were 
again  asserted,  it  was  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  French. 

The  treaty  of  St.  Germains,  which  followed  the  war  above  referred 
to,  surrendered  to  France  all  the  places  occupied  by  British  subjects 
in  New  France  and  Acadia,  thus  at  last  carrying  out  the  provisions  of 
the  marriage  treaty.  Acadia  was  the  name  applied  by  the  French  to 
a  region  of  indefinite  extent  westward,  while  the  English  considered 
that  it  was  only  coextensive  with  the  territory  they  called  Nova  Scotia. 
Here  was  a  fine  opportunity  for  dispute  and  contention,  and  it  was  for 
a  long  time  improved. 

The  trading-post  of  the  Plymouth  colony  on  Penobscot  Bay,  being 
the  most  easterly  establishment  of  the  English,  was  the  most  exposed 
to  aggression  by  the  French,  and  was  the  first  to  suffer  from  it.  One 
fine  morning  in  June,  1632,  the  commander  of  the  post,  with  a  number 
of  men,  started  out  on  a  trading  excursion  among  the  Indians,  leaving 
three  or  four  men  in  charge  of  the  fortified  house.  During  the  absence 
of  this  party,  a  French  vessel  appeared  in  the  bay,  and,  approaching  the 
post,  represented  that  they  had  put  into  the  harbor  in  distress,  and  asked 
permission  to  repair  their  leaky  vessel  and  refresh  themselves.  The  favor 
was  readily  granted  by  the  men  at  the  post,  and  the  Frenchmen  were 
invited  to  come  on  shore.  The  invitation  was  accepted ;  and  having 
landed,  and  entered  the  fort,  they  discovered  its  weak  condition,  and 
immediately  abandoned  the  character  of  needy  mariners  and  became 


476  MAINE.  — PLANTATIONS  AND  TRADING-POSTS. 

freebooters.  Seizing  the  arms,  they  ordered  the  unsuspecting  keepers 
of  the  trading-house  to  surrender,  on  pain  of  death;  and  they  then  com- 
menced plundering  the  place  of  all  its  valuable  contents.  A  stock  of 
furs  and  all  the  arms  and  provisions  were  taken,  and  the  unfortunate 
keepers  were  compelled  to  aid  in  loading  the  booty  on  board  the  boat. 
Having  thus  treacherously  rifled  the  post,  the  robbers  sailed  away,  bid- 
ding the  luckless  Englishmen  tell  their  master  to  "remember  the  Isle 
of  Re,"  —  the  scene  of  a  brilliant  victory  of  the  French  over  the  Eng- 
lish in  the  then  recent  war. 

With  such  men  as  Bradford  and  Miles  Standish  to  encourage  them, 
the  Plymouth  colonists  were  not  dismayed  by  this  act  of  piracy,  although 
the  loss  was  to  them  a  serious  one.  They  still  maintained  the  station, 
and  continued  their  traffic;  and  the  next  year  they  went  farther  east, 
and  established  a  new  trading-house  at  Machias,  which  they  garrisoned 
with  five  or  six  trusty  men,  well  armed,  being  determined  to  hold  per- 
manent possession  of  the  place. 

Meanwhile,  after  the  surrender  of  Acadia  by  the  English,  the  French 
monarch  made  extensive  grants  in  that  territory  to  some  of  his  sub- 
jects. The  chief  of  these  grants  was  to  Razilla,  the  French  officer  who 
received  the  surrender;  and  a  subordinate  one  was  to  La  Tour,  a  Prot- 
estant, who  had  previously  obtained  a  grant  from  Sir  William  Alexan- 
der, and  fortified  it  by  confirmations  from  both  the  English  and  the 
French  kings.  La  Tour's  object  was  a  profitable  traffic,  and,  with  an 
arrogant  spirit  and  a  somewhat  violent  temper,  he  determined  to  suffer 
no  interference  with  what  he  claimed  as  his  exclusive  rights.  When 
he  heard  that  the  English  had  established  a  trading-house  at  Machias, 
he  at  once  determined  to  destroy  it,  because  it  was  too  near,  though 
not  within  his  grant.  It  was  at  least  within  the  domain  of  the  king 
of  France,  as  he  claimed,  and  could  not  be  permitted  to  exist.  Pro- 
ceeding with  a  sufficient  force  to  Machias,  he  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  post.  This  was  refused  by  the  little  garrison,  who  undertook 
to  defend  their  charge.  Two  of  them,  however,  were  killed  by  the 
assailants,  who  then  gained  possession  of  the  house.  Rifling  it  of  every- 
thing that  was  valuable,  La  Tour  returned  to  Port  Royal,  taking  with 
him  the  surviving  defenders  as  prisoners. 

The  Plymouth  colonists  sent  Mr.  Allerton  to  Port  Royal  to  recover 


PILGRIM  TRADING-POSTS  DESTROYED. 


477 


the  men  and  goods,  but  the  messenger  met  with  a  cold  and  haughty 
reception  from  La  Tour.  When  Mr.  Allerton  demanded  by  what  author- 
ity he  had  seized  the  men  and  property,  he  arrogantly  replied,  "  I  have 
taken  them  as  lawful  prize;  my  authority  is  from  the  king  of  France, 
who  claims  the  coast  from  Cape  Sable  to  Cape  Cod.  I  wish  the  Eng- 
lish to  understand,  if  they  trade  to  the  eastward  of  Pemaquid,  I  shall 
seize  them,  and  my  sword  is  all  the  commission  I  shall  show."  Some 
years  afterwards  the  son  of  La  Tour  applied  to  Massachusetts  for  aid 
against  his  rival  D'AuInay;  and,  in  striking  contrast  with  his  father's 
arrogance,  his  manner  was  so  pleasing  and  persuasive  that  he  secured 
the  good  will  of  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  colony,  and  obtained, 
if  not  the  open  alliance  of  the  Puritan  government,  permission  to  fit 
out  an  expedition  against  D'AuInay,  who  was  then  besieging  his  fort  at 
St.  John's. 

Two  or  three  years  afterwards,  the  trading-post  of  the  Plymouth 
colonists  at  Penobscot  shared  the  fate  of  that  at  Machias.  General 
Razilla,  the  chief  officer  and  representative  of  France  in  Acadia,  sent 
D'AuInay,  his  subordinate,  in  a  ship  of  war  to  take  possession  of  the 
country  as  far  as  Pemaquid.  That  officer,  who  was  of  a  violent  tem- 
per and  greedy  of  gain,  finding  the  Plymouth  trading-house  within  the 
jurisdiction  claimed  for  France,  plundered  it  of  its  contents,  and  drove 
the  men  away,  bidding  them  tell  their  friends  that  a  French  fleet  would 
be  sent  against  all  the  English  settlements  as  far  south  as  the  fortieth 
degree.  "  And  know,"  he  added,  "  that  my  commission  is  from  the  king 
of  France!" 

But  the  commission  from  the  king  of  France  did  not  deter  the 
peaceful  Pilgrims  from  asserting  their  rights.  They  chartered  a  large 
vessel,  armed  it,  and  dispatched  it  to  the  Penobscot,  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  Captain  Girling,  while  the  doughty  Miles  Standish,  the  faith- 
ful defender  of  the  colony,  accompanied  it  in  a  shallop.  Girling  was 
hired  to  recapture  the  place,  and  was  to  receive  a  quantity  of  beaver- 
skins  if  he  succeeded,  and  nothing  if  he  failed.  Anxious  to  win  the 
beaver,  he  commenced  firing  at  too  long  range  for  his  guns,  and  wasted 
his  ammunition  without  effect.  While  the  French  laughed  at  his  inef- 
fectual shots,  and  Standish  looked  on  with  anger  and  contempt,  Girling 
found  that  he  had  burnt  all  his  powder  without  earning  the  beaver. 


478  MAINE.  — PLANTATIONS  AND   TRADING-POSTS. 

The  attempt  to  recover  the  post  thus  failed,  and  Standish,  after  furnish- 
ing Girling  with  more  powder,  returned  in  disgust  to  Plymouth,  to  tell 
the  colonists  that  they  must  thereafter  confine  their  trading  to  the 
Kennebec. 

Meanwhile  the  other  settlements  or  plantations  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  were  scarcely  more  permanent 
than  the  trading-posts  of  the  Pilgrims.  They  were  occupied  by  'adven- 
turous traders,  or  hirelings,  who  had  no  desire  or  purpose  to  settle 
permanently  in  the  country,  and  were  ready  to  leave  as  soon  as  profit 
or  pay  ceased.  In  England  the  Plymouth  Company  was  unable  to  con- 
tend longer  with  the  assaults  of  merchants  and  rival  companies  against 
its  charter, .  and  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Gorges  in  its  defence,  it 
was  forced  to  yield  to  public  opinion  if  not  to  the  royal  revocation. 
Before  dissolving,  the  company  divided  their  patent  into  twelve  royal 
provinces  which  were  to  be  drawn  by  lot  in  the  presence  of  the  king. 
Two  of  these  were  assigned  to  Gorges,  who  alone  seems  to  have  taken 
much  interest  in  colonizing  America;  and  few  if  any  of  the  other  divisions 
were  ever  formally  granted  by  royal  charter.  Gorges  was  ambitious  to 
secure  for  his  family  vast  proprietary  rights  in  New  England,  and  a 
position  of  honor  as  well  as  profit  there.  When  the  king  appointed 
"  Lords  Commissioners  of  all  his  American  Plantations,"  Gorges  ob- 
tained through  them  a  commission  as  Governor-General  of  New  Eng- 
land. A  man-of-war  was  built  to  convey  him  to  his  new  domain,  and 
to  remain  there  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  But  in  launching,  this 
vessel  was  so  damaged  that  she  could  not  be  sent  to  sea,  and  no  other 
being  provided,  Gorges  never  came  to  exercise  the  authority  he  coveted. 
Domestic  affairs  so  occupied  the  attention  of  the  king  and  parliament 
that  no  further  attempt  was  made  at  that  time  to  establish  a  general 
government  in  New  England;  and  Gorges  himself,  abandoning  all  thought 
of  it,  devoted  his  attention  only  to  the  success  of  plantations  within  his 
own  patent. 

The  settlement  at  Agamenticus  was  the  object  of  his  special  regard 
and  care.  In  1641  he  gave  it  a  charter  as  a  town  or  borough,  and 
invested  the  inhabitants  with  power  to  choose  a  mayor  and  eight  alder- 
men, who  were  to  make  laws,  erect  fortifications,  hold  courts,  and  exer- 
cise other  powers  of  government  over  a  territory  extending  three  miles 


A    FALSE    ALARM. 


THE   CITY  OF  GEORGIANA. 


479 


every  way  from  the  church  chapel.  The  exclusive  privileges  granted 
the  inhabitants  of  Agamenticus  brought  them  in  conflict  with  the  pro- 
vincial government ;  but  the  difference  was  amicably  settled  by  the 
latter  recognizing  the  immunities  of  the  borough. 

The  next  year,  Gorges,  desirous  of  showing  still  greater  favor  to 
the  settlement,  executed  a  new  charter,  by  which  he  made  it  a  "  city," 
under  the  name  of  Georgiana,  or  Gorgeana.  The  territory  covered  by 
this  charter  contained  twenty-one  square  miles,  upon  which,  in  scat- 
tered hamlets,  were  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants.  The  gov- 
ernment consisted  of  a  mayor,  twelve  aldermen,  twenty-four  common 
councilmen,  and  a  recorder,  to  be  elected  annually  by  the  freeholders. 
Their  powers  were  somewhat  more  extensive  than  those  granted  to  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  borough;  and  to  maintain  the  dignity  of 
their  office  as  justices,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  were  author- 
ized to  appoint  four  sergeants,  whose  badge  of  office  was  a  white  rod, 
and  who  were  to  serve  all  judicial  precepts.  This  government  was 
authorized  to  make  any  laws  it  saw  fit,  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of 
England  or  those  of  the  province,  to  erect  fortifications,  and  generally 
to  enjoy  all  the  liberties  and  privileges  granted  by  the  charter  of  Bris- 
tol in  England.  The  first  mayor  under  the  city  charter  was  Edward 
Godfrey,  one  of  the  earliest  adventurers  who'  settled  on  the  coast  of 
Maine. 

For  more  than  ten  years  this  ambitious  form  of  municipal  govern- 
ment performed  its  functions  and  exercised  its  authority  over  the 
sparsely  settled  territory  of  Georgiana.  Annually  the  citizens  or  free- 
holders assembled  and  elected  their  mayor,  aldermen,  common  council- 
men,  and  recorder,  and  as  the  number  to  be  elected  was  no  insignificant 
part  of  the  whole  number  of  electors,  they  must  have  taken  great  sat- 
isfaction in  voting  for  each  other.  No  very  large  proportion  of  the  set- 
tlers were  men  of  character  and  worth,  and  some  queer  people  were 
elevated  to  the  dignity  of  office.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  supposed 
advantages  of  this  corporate  government,  Georgiana  increased  but  little 
during  the  ten  years  of  its  existence.  Some  persons,  driven  from  other 
settlements  for  offences  or  scandalous  practices,  sought  a  refuge  there, 
and  stirred  up  trouble,  and  these  were  the  principal  accessions  to  the 
population. 


480  MAINE.  — PLANTATIONS  AND   TRADING-POSTS. 

This  corporate  government  was  an  object  of  ridicule  and  contempt 
with  the  people  of  Massachusetts.  Winthrop,  writing  of  affairs  in 
Maine,  says  they  have  "  lately  made  Agamenticus,  a  poor  village,  a 
corporation,  and  a  tailor  their  mayor."  That  the  Church  of  England 
was  maintained  there,  and  excommunicants  and  exiles  from  the  Puritan 
colony  found  there  a  refuge,  made  the  "  city "  an  object  of  dislike  and 
jealousy  as  well  as  ridicule. 

Gorges  himself  must  have  laughed  could  he  have  seen  what  sort 
of  a  city  he  had  created  here  in  the  wilderness.  Over  all  his  twenty- 
one  miles  of  "city  limits"  a  hundred  houses,  perhaps,  had  been  erected; 
a  few  of  them,  some  built  at  his  expense,  were  of  a  superior  charac- 
ter, but  most  of  them  were  the  poor  habitations  of  the  early  settlers. 
The  inhabitants  were  engaged  in  felling  trees  and  hewing  timber,  or  in 
cultivating  some  small  patches  on  their  farms.  When  the  court  days 
came  round,  there  was  doubtless  some  parade  to  maintain  the  dignity 
of  the  magistrates,  after  the  manner  of  the  mother  country,  and  the 
inhabitants  made  an  idle  day  of  it.  We  have  no  record  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, or  of  the  "  lord-mayor's  procession "  which  we  may  believe 
marched  through  the  stump-obstructed  "street"  to  the  primitive  town- 
house  where  the  courts  were  held.  The  four  sergeants,  with  their  white 
wands,  were  of  course  on  duty:  the  church-beadle,  the  blacksmith,  the 
carpenter,  and  the  shoemaker.  Not  over-particular  in  their  costume, 
their  work-day  aprons,  perhaps,  served  to  cover  the  tatters  of  their 
clothes;  .but  the  white  wands  gave  them  authority  and  distinction,  which 
were  duly  reverenced  by  the  idlers  and  boys  who  came  out  to  witness 
the  civic  display.  Preceded  and  followed  by  two  of  these  functiona- 
ries, the  mayor,  recorder,  and  twelve  aldermen,  swelling  with  the  dig- 
nity of  their  office,  proceeded  to  the  seat  of  justice.  Having  taken 
their  places,  the  beadle,  as  chief  of  the  sergeants,  made  proclamation, 
while  the  others,  with  their  white  rods,  kept  order  among  the  people 
who  had  followed  the  procession  into  the  court-house.  The  court  being 
duly  opened,  the  fourteen  solemn  magistrates,  some  of  whom,  doubtless, 
were  versed  in  "Crowner's  Quest  Law,"  proceeded  to  hear  complaints  and 
try  causes.  But  it  may  well  be  believed  that  the  court  was  not  overbur- 
dened with  business,  though  it  is  only  fair  to  suppose  that  justice  was 
administered  in  a  rough  sort  of  way,  both  to  offenders  and  suitors. 


ILL-CONSIDERED  ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION.        48 1 

Gorges,  at  least,  saw  how  ill-considered  were  the  attempts  which 
had  been  made  to  establish  settlements  in  Maine,  and  he  himself  de- 
scribes the  character  of  those  settlements  in  giving  the  reasons  for  their 
failure.  In  his  narrative  he  wrote :  :t  We  have  been  endeavoring  to 
found  plantations  in  a  wilderness  region,  where  men,  bred  up  jn  a  land 
of  villages,  farms,  and  plenty,  could  hardly  be  hired  to  stay;  or  if 
induced  to  become  residents,  they  must  be  fed  in  idleness  from  their 
master's  crib,  yet  with  few  or  no  returns.  .  .  .  Trade,  fishing,  lum- 
ber,—  these  have  been  the  phantoms  of  pursuit;  while  there  has  been 
a  criminal  neglect  of  husbandry  —  the  guide  to  good  habits,  the  true 
source  of  wealth,  and  the  almoner  of  human  life." 

But  Gorges  discovered  too  late  the  mistaken  policy  under  which 
adventurers  had  been  sent  to  Maine.  His  opportunities  for  planting  a 
successful  colony  had  passed  away,  and  it  was  left  for  others  to  profit 
by  his  experience.  The  permanent  settlements  of  Maine  were  estab- 
lished, and  slowly  increased,  independent,  for  the  most  part,  of  the 
schemes  of  great  proprietors  and  avaricious  merchants. 

NO.    XIII.  6 1 


LV. 


CONFLICTS   OF   RIVAL   FRENCH   CLAIMANTS. 


N  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  an  appeal 
to  the  "dread  arbitrament  of  "war"  was  the  usual  way 
of  settling  the  disputes  of  nations  or  factions.  Might 
made  right,  and  force  was  resorted  to  more  frequently 
than  diplomacy  to  settle  rival  claims  even  of  a  petty 
nature.  The  grants  of  the  French  king  and  the  com- 
pany of  New  France  in  Acadia  were  as  conflicting  as 
those  from  the  Plymouth  Company  in  Maine,  and  led 
to  contentions  which  seriously  affected  the  English  colonies.  To  Gen- 
eral Razilla  had  been  given  the  command  of  the  whole  Acadian  coun- 
try when  it  was  transferred  by  England  to  France.  La  Tour  had 
purchased  an  extensive  tract  from  Sir  William  Alexander  before  the 
transfer,  and  had  also  obtained  a  grant  from  the  French  monarch, 
which  had  been  recognized  by  Razilla.  He  claimed  the  territory 
from  the  basin  of  Minas  to  Passamaquoddy  as  exclusively  under 
his  jurisdiction,  and  established  himself  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  St. 
John,  where  he  constructed  fortifications,  and  whence  he  undertook  to 
carry  on  a  traffic  with  the  Indians  and  the  English  settlements. 

La  Tour,  however,  had  a  formidable  rival  who  had  obtained  a 
grant  and  located  himself  to  the  westward  of  the  former,  on  the  eastern 
side  of  Penobscot  Bay.  He  also  raised  fortifications,  and  established 
himself,  as  if  permanently,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  good  harbor  on 
the  one  side,  and  of  a  numerous  tribe  of  Indians  on  the  other.  D'Aulnay 
was  a  subordinate  officer  of  Razilla,  arid  when  that  general  died,  in 

482 


LA   TOUR  AND  D'AULNAT. 


483 


1635,  he  considered  himself  as  his  successor,  and  entitled  to  exercise 
authority  over  territory  claimed  by  La  Tour,  and  as  far  westward  as 
the  Penobscot.  La  Tour  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to  any  authority 
superior  to  his  own,  and  contentions  soon  arose  between  the  rival  claim- 
ants. Numerous  petty  contests  respecting  jurisdiction  took  place,  and, 
in  order  to  quiet  them,  the  king  of  France  ordered  D'Aulnay  to  confine 
his  authority  to  the  country  of  the  "  Etechenims,"  as  the  Indians  be- 
tween the  St.  John  and  the  Penobscot  were  called. 

La  Tour  was  a  Protestant,  and  D'Aulnay  was  a  Catholic;  and  while 
Catholics  and  Huguenots  were  fighting  in  France,  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  these  rivals,  of  different  faiths,  would  smother  their  am- 
bition or  their  enmity  so  far  away  from  any  paramount  authority.  Their 
contests  took  on  something  of  the  color  of  the  religious  contest  of  the 
old  country.  D'Aulnay  relied  on  the  Catholics  in  France  and  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  in'  Acadia  for  support  of  his  pretensions,  and  La  Tour 
looked  to  the  Puritans  of  New  England  for  countenance  of  his  rival 
claims,  and  even  for  material  aid.  He  sent  a  messenger  to  Boston 
proposing  a  treaty  or  agreement  for  free  trade  between  Massachusetts 
and  his  settlement,  and  that  Massachusetts  should  also  furnish  him 
with  assistance  in  a  war  against  D'Aulnay.  The  proposal  for  free  trade 
was  readily  accepted,  but  the  other  proposal  was  not  acceded  to,  as 
La  Tour's  authority  to  enter  into  such  an  alliance  for  hostile  purposes 
was  not  shown.  La  Tour,  the  next  year,  went  to  Boston  himself,  where 
he  made  a  favorable  impression,  and  concluded  an  agreement  for  free 
trade,  while  as  a  Protestant  he  felt  assured  of  the  sympathy  of  the 
Puritans  as  against  his  Catholic  antagonist. 

A  profitable  trade  with  La  Tour's  settlement  was  commenced  by 
the  merchants  of  Boston,  and  continued  for  a  short  time,  when  it  was 
suddenly  brought  to  a  close  by  D'Aulnay.  That  officer  had  not  been 
idle  while  his  rival  was  at  work,  and  through  the  machinations  of  his 
friends  in  France  he  had  procured  an  order  from  the  king  for  the  arrest 
of  La  Tour  as  a  rebel  and  outlaw.  One  of  the  Boston  vessels,  touch- 
ing at  Pemaquid,  on  its  return  from  St.  John,  chanced  to  fall  in  with 
D'Aulnay.  Learning  whence  the  vessel  had  come,  D'Aulnay  gave  the 
master  a  copy  of  the  decree  of  outlawry  against  La  Tour,  and  bade 
him  "take  it  to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  tell  him,  if  vessels 


484  CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 

dare    persist  in  a  trade    between    the    English   colonies  and  St.  John,  I 
will  make  prize  of  them." 

Having  procured  this  formidable  order  for  the  termination  of  his 
rival's  career,  D'Aulnay  did  not  long  content  himself  with  threats. 
Unlike  the  English  colonists,  he  had  a  considerable  military  force  at 
his  command;  and  while  La  Tour,  through  his  partisans  in  France, 
was  endeavoring  to  obtain  a  revocation  of  the  order,  or  a  mitigation 
of  the  penalties  pronounced  against  him,  D'Aulnay  organized  an  expe- 
dition against  St.  John,  consisting  of  several  armed  vessels  with  five  hun- 
dred men.  With  this  force  he  blockaded  the  harbor  of  St.  John,  and 
closely  besieged  La  Tour's  fort,  relying  on  famine,  rather  than  assault, 
for  its  reduction.  Supplies  had  not  been  collected  within  the  fort  in 
anticipation  of  a  siege,  and  the  aspect  of  affairs  for  La  Tour  was 
gloomy  enough,  as  he  saw  little  prospect  of  relief. 

While  troubled  with  anxious  forebodings  as  to  his  fate  should  he  be 
captured  by  D'Aulnay,  La  Tour  saw  in  the  offing  a  long-expected  ship 
from  France,  laden  with  supplies,  and  bearing  a  large  number  of  Prot- 
estant fugitives.  He  determined,  if  possible,  to  intercept  her  before 
she  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy;  and  leaving  the  fort, 
accompanied  by  his  wife,  he  put  off  in  a  boat,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  her  while  at  some  distance  from  D'Aulnay's  squadron.  As  soon 
as  he  was  on  board,  the  ship  bore  away  for  Boston,  where  she  arrived 
in  safety.  There  La  Tour  earnestly  sought  the  aid  of  the  Puritans 
against  his  Catholic  antagonist,  whom  he  represented  as  their  natural 
enemy.  He  met  with  much  sympathy;  and  Madame  La  Tour  com- 
mended herself  as  a  pious  Protestant,  whose  influence  ably  seconded 
her  husband's  entreaties.  While  some  of  the  Puritans  were  ready  to 
afford  the  desired  aid  against  a  national  and  religious  enemy,  there  were 
others  who  as  strenuously  objected  to  taking  part  in  a  contest  between 
foreign  factions,  and  presented  strong  arguments  why  the  Massachusetts 
government  should  remain  neutral.  Massachusetts,  indeed,  as  one  of 
the  new  confederacy  of  colonies,  could  not  engage  in  a  war  without 
the  assent  of  the  commissioners,  and  such  consent  was  hopeless.  But 
though  the  government  could  take  no  action,  La  Tour  was  informed 
that  he  could  charter  ships,  and  enlist  as  many  volunteers  as  he  could 
induce  to  join  him,  at  his  own  expense.  He  promptly  acted  on  this 


Z?' 'A  ULNA  T  AND   THE  PURITANS.  485 

suggestion,  and  mortgaging  his  property  at  St.  John  to  raise  the  means, 
he  chartered  four  vessels,  armed  them  with  thirty-eight  guns,  and, 
besides  the  crews,  enlisted  nearly  a  hundred  soldiers.  With  this  squad- 
ron, and  the  French  ship  that  had  brought  him  to  Boston,  he  sailed 
for  St.  John. 

D'Aulnay  was  far  from  expecting  a  hostile  visit  when  this  squadron 
appeared  and  commenced  a  sudden  and  furious  attack.  He  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  his  station  and  seek  safety  in  flight.  His  enemy  gave 
chase,  and  pursued  him  to  Penobscot,  where  he  ran  three  of  his  ves- 
sels on  shore,  and  fortified  his  position  in  the  most  expeditious  manner. 
A  party  of  La  Tour's  men  landed,  and  an  engagement  ensued,  in  which 
a  number  were  killed  and  wounded  on  each  side,  but  without  any 
decisive  result.  The  commander  of  the  chartered  squadron  declined 
to  continue  longer  in  La  Tour's  service,  the  object  of  the  expedition 
having  been  accomplished  in  driving  D'Aulnay  away  from  St.  John. 
Having  captured  one  of  his  ships  well-laden  with  furs,  the  squadron 
returned  to  Boston  to  divide  the  spoils. 

Meanwhile  the  Massachusetts  authorities  had  dispatched  a  messen- 
ger to  Penobscot  to  inform  D'Aulnay,  that,  though  they  would  not  have 
been  "  backward  to  do  themselves  justice "  had  he  molested  them  in 
their  right  of  free  trade,  yet,  as  a  colony,  they  had  taken  no  part  in 
La  Tour's  expedition,  and  had  simply  permitted  him  to  fit  it  out  at  -his 
own  expense.  D'Aulnay  was  not  prepared  to  quarrel  with  Massachu- 
setts, but  he  determined  to  crush  his  rival  in  spite  of  her,  and  to  stop 
all  trade  between  the  English  colonists  and  La  Tour.  An  attempt  to 
carry  out  the  latter  purpose  led  to  a  rash  and  foolish  conflict  which 
greatly  exasperated  D'Aulnay. 

Three  men  of  some  distinction  in  their  respective  settlements, — Vines 
of  Saco,  Shurt  of  Pemaquid,  and  Wannerton  of  New  Hampshire,  —  to 
whom  La  Tour  was  indebted,  took  passage  for  St.  John  for  the  pur- 
pose of  collecting  the  money  due  them.  On  the  way,  they  stopped  at 
Penobscot,  where  they  were  forcibly  detained  by  D'Aulnay,  and  were 
with  some  difficulty  liberated,  after  several  days'  detention,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Shurt,  to  whom  D'Aulnay  was  indebted  for  favors.  Proceeding 
then  to  St.  John,  they  did  not  succeed  in  collecting  their  dues;  but  they 
heard  that  D'Aulnay's  garrison  was  small,  and  short  of  supplies;  and 


486  CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 

Wannerton,  who  was  a  man  of  violent  temper,  and  felt  a  bitter  .resent- 
ment for  the  wrong  and  indignity  he  had  suffered  at  Penobscot,  deter- 
mined to  be  revenged.  He  collected  a  party  of  twenty  men,  armed 
them,  and  sailed  for  Penobscot.  Landing  his  men,  he  proceeded  to 
D'Aulnay's  farm-house,  five  or  six  miles  from  the  fort.  Wannerton 
knocked  at  the  door,  and  fiercely  demanded  admission.  As  the  door 
was  opened,  he  received  a  shot,  and  fell,  mortally  wounded.  His  men 
rushed  in,  and,  returning  the  fire,  killed  one  of  the  inmates,  when  the 
others  surrendered.  The  assailants  then  set  fire  to  the  house,  killed  the 
cattle,  and  destroyed  all  else.  They  then  departed,  before  D'Aulnay 
received  intelligence  of  the  outrage. 

When  he  heard  of  it,  the  choleric  Frenchman  was  enraged,  and, 
with  violent  threats,  he  issued  orders  to  make  prize  of  every  vessel  of 
the  English  colonies  found  east  of  Penobscot.  When  his  threats  were 
known  in  Boston,  the  governor  demanded  an  explanation,  and  assured 
him  that,  while  La  Tour  could  not  expect  more  aid  from  the  colonists, 
the  right  to  trade  at  St.  John  would  be  protected.  The  Massachusetts 
colony  was  already  strong  enough  to  be  respected;  and  D'Aulnay  after- 
wards acknowledged  that  he  had  been  hasty,  and  sent  an  agent  to 
Boston  to  negotiate  a  treaty,  and  to  show  his  authority  for  proceeding 
against  La  Tour  as  an  outlaw.  The  Massachusetts  authorities,  in  the 
negotiations  that  followed,  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
between  the  rival  Frenchmen;  but  D'Aulnay's  representative  assured 
them  that  nothing  but  complete  submission  would  save  La  Tour's  head, 
and  that  his  wife,  who  was  then  in  Boston,  should  not  be  permitted  to 
go  to  St.  John,  as  she  was  the  cause  of  his  rebellion.  A  treaty  of 
amity  and  free  trade  was,  however,  agreed  to  by  the  governor  and 
D'Aulnay's  agent,  subject  to  ratification  by  the  ruler  of  Penobscot  and 
the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies. 

Madame  La  Tour  had  arrived  in  Boston  a  short  time  before  D'Aul- 
nay's messenger.  She  had  been  to  Europe  in  her  husband's  behalf,  and 
had  taken  passage  in  an  English  vessel,  the  master  of  which  had  engaged 
to  carry  her  to  St.  John;  but  the  vessel  had  made  a  circuitous  voyage, 
touching  at  various  places  for  trade,  and,  after  a  long  and  tedious  pas- 
sage, instead  of  going  to  St.  John,  landed  her  at  Boston.  She  was  a 
woman  of  unusual  energy;  and,  indignant  that  she  should  be  so  long 


MADAME  LA    TOUR. 


487 


detained,  and  then,  in  violation  of  the  contract  made  with  her,  left  at 
a  place  so  distant  from  her  destination,  to  reach  which  she  would  now 
be  exposed  to  capture  by  D'Aulnay,  she  commenced  suits  against  the 
master  of  the  ship  for  bringing  her  to  Boston,  and  against  the  mer- 
chant who  had  chartered  the  ship,  for  an  unnecessary  detention  of 
nearly  six  months  on  board.  She  laid  her  damages  in  a  sum  sufficient 
to  enable  her  to  provide  an  outfit  strong  enough  to  resist  any  attempt 
of  D'Aulnay  to  capture  her.  The  suits  were  tried  before  the  Court  of 
Assistants,  and,  whether  from  the  justice  of  her  cause,  or  the  influence 
of  her  character  and  presence,  she  was  successful.  She  recovered  two 
thousand  pounds,  —  a  very  large  sum  in  those  days,  —  and  with  the 
money  she  promptly  chartered  three  English  ships  then  lying  in  Boston 
harbor,  and  sailed  to  St.  John. 

Meanwhile  D'Aulnay,  at  Penobscot,  had  heard  of  Madame  La  Tour's 
presence  in  Boston,  and  confidently  reckoned  on  her  capture,  which  he 
desired  almost  as  much  as  that  of  La  Tour  himself,  on  account  of  her 
earnest  Protestantism  and  her  important  service  to  her  husband.  When 
he  learned  that  she  had  left  Boston,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  defy  any 
attempt  to  intercept  her,  he  was  greatly  disappointed,  and  in  his  anger 
he  declared  he  would  pay  no  regard  to  the  treaty  entered  into  with 
those  perfidious  Puritans.  Moreover,  he  vowed  he  would  yet  make  a 
prisoner  of  this  brave  lady,  and  execute  his  rival. 

When  Madame  La  Tour  arrived  at  St.  John,  her  husband  was 
absent  on  a  trading  or  marauding  expedition.  She  took  command  of 
the  fort,  and  prepared,  with  a  slender  garrison,  to  defend  it  against  any 
attack;  and  she  drove  away  some  Jesuits  who,  in  her  absence,  had 
established  themselves  at  the  settlement.  The  priests,  in  time,  found 
means  to  inform  D'Aulnay  that  La  Tour  was  absent,  and  his  fort  was 
in  a  weak  condition  and  could  be  easily  captured.  The  angry  com- 
mander of  Penobscot  determined  to  improve  the  opportunity,  and,  early 
in  the  spring,  he  proceeded  in  an  armed  ship  to  St.  John.  On  the 
way,  he  fell  in  with  a  vessel  from  Massachusetts,  laden  with  supplies, 
and,  true  to  his  threat  to  pay  no  regard  to  the  treaty  recently  nego- 
tiated, he  seized  it,  and  put  the  crew  ashore  on  a  desolate  island,  with- 
out arms,  compass,  or  the  means  of  making  a  fire.  The  snow  was 
deep,  and  the  weather  cold;  and,  deprived  of  a  part  of  their  clothing, 


488  CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 

and  sheltered  only  by  a  dilapidated  hut,  the  unfortunate  crew  suffered 
intensely.  D'Aulnay  proceeded  with  his  prize  to  St.  John,  and,  moor- 
ing his  ship  before  the  fort,  commenced  an  attack,  which  at  first  seemed 
to  have  considerable  effect.  But  Madame  La  Tour,  who  commanded 
the  garrison  in  the  absence  of  her  husband,  was  not  disposed  to  have 
the  fort  battered  down  without  resistance,  and  the  guns  of  the  fort  were 
so  well  served  that  twenty  of  D'Aulnay's  men  were  killed,  and  a  num- 
ber of  others  wounded,  while  his  ship  was  so  much  damaged  that  he 
was  glad  to  warp  her  away  under  a  protecting  bluff"  for  repairs. 

-Unable  to  renew  the  attack,  D'Aulnay  returned  more  angry  than 
ever  to  Penobscot.  On  the  way,  he  took  the  suffering  crew  from  the 
island  where  he  had  left  them,  and  from  Penobscot  sent  them  home 
in  a  miserable  shallop,  half  clothed,  and  with  a  scanty  supply  of  pro- 
visions. For  this  outrage,  Massachusetts  sent  a  messenger  to  demand 
immediate  satisfaction,  charging  him  with  violating  a  sacred  treaty. 
But  D'Aulnay  had  not  yet  ratified  the  treaty,  and  utterly  refused  to  do 
so,  and  threatened  the  Massachusetts  colony  with  his  sovereign's  hos- 
tility. Assuming  that  he  was  the  injured  party,  he  said  he  would  wait 
for  an  explanation  of  the  conduct  of  the  Puritan  colony  till  the  next 
spring.  Unwilling  to  resort  to  hostilities,  Massachusetts  concluded  to 
wait  till  a  more  favorable  time  for  negotiation. 

After  a  long  delay,  during  which  D'Aulnay  effectually  stopped  all 
trade  between  the  English  settlements  and  St.  John,  he  sent  three  com- 
missioners to  Boston  to  treat  with  the  colonial  government,  and  to 
demand  a  payment  of  damages  for  injuries  done  at  various  times.  This 
demand  was  considered  preposterous  by  the  governor  and  magistrates 
of  Massachusetts,  who  summed  up  a  much  greater  loss  by  the  colo- 
nists from  D'Aulnay's  unwarrantable  interference  with  their  rights. 
They  resolved,  however,  to  be  generous,  and,  waiving  their  own  de- 
mands, to  send  an  elegant  present  to  the  choleric  Frenchman  to  flatter 
his  pride  and  testify  their  friendly  disposition. 

Some  time  previous  to  this,  a  Spanish  viceroy  in  Mexico  had  sent 
a  costly  sedan  as  a  present  to  his  sister  in  the  West  Indies.  By  some 
mischance  this  sedan,  instead  of  reaching  the  lady  for  whom  it  was 
intended,  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  English  sea-captain,  who  brought  it 
to  Boston  and  presented  it  to  Governor  Winthrop.  The  governor  was 


MADAME    LA    TOUR    A    PRISONER    AT    PENOBSCOT. 


MADAME  LA    TOUR  A   PRISONER.  489 

not  disposed  to  use  this  luxury,  and  perhaps  had  a  lurking  prejudice 
against  it  as  formerly  belonging  -to  Papists,  or  some  doubts  as  to  the 
morality  of  the  manner  in  which  it  had  come  into  the  possession  of 
the  giver.  Here  was  an  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  a  piece  of  trouble- 
some furniture,  and  at  the  same  time  to  turn  it  to  good  account. 
Stolen  from  Papists,  it  might  very  properly  be  bestowed  upon  a  Papist, 
and  be  no  longer  a  constant  reminder  of  doubts  and  scruples.  Accord- 
ingly the  sedan  was  sent  to  the  ruler  of  Penobscot,  as  a  token  of  the 
good  will  of  the  governor  and  magistrates  of  Massachusetts.  The  previ- 
ously rejected  treaty  of  peace  and  amity  was  signed;  but  how  D'Aulnay 
received  the  present  as  a  satisfaction  of  his  demands  is  not  recorded, 
though  Madame  D'Aulnay,  doubtless,  greatly  enjoyed  the  sedan. 

The  prevention  of  trade  between  the  English  colonies  and  St.  John 
reduced  that  place  to  want;  and  before  the  close  of  the  winter  after 
D'Aulnay's  treaty  with  Massachusetts,  La  Tour  again  left  his  fort  in 
the  charge  of  his  wife,  and  went  on  a  cruise  for  provisions.  From  the 
Jesuits,  who  still  held  communication  with  St.  John,  D'Aulnay  learned 
the  condition  of  the  garrison,  and  proceeded  with  all  the  force  he 
could  command  to  make  another  attack.  Madame  La  Tour  again 
defended  the  place  with  a  bravery  worthy  of  a  nobler  husband;  but 
D'Aulnay  made  a  fierce  assault,  and,  after  the  loss  of  a  number  of 
men,  succeeded  in  carrying  the  fort.  He  took  Madame  La  Tour  a 
prisoner,  and  put  the  small  garrison  of  French  and  English  to  the 
sword.  He  then  plundered  the  place  of  all  that  was  valuable,  and 
returned  to  Penobscot  with  his  prisoner,  and  spoils  amounting  to  many 
thousand  pounds. 

Arriving  at  Penobscot,  D'Aulnay  conducted  his  prisoner  into  his 
fortified  and  rather  extensive  house.  As  he  led  her  into  the  hall,  he 
said,  with  the  manner  of  a  courtier,  but  with  a  tone  of  triumph,  — 

"  Madame,  it  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  welcome  you  to  my 
abode.  You  shall  have  whatever  comforts  we  ourselves  enjoy;  but 
remember,  you  are  my  prisoner,  and  if  you  attempt  to  escape,  some- 
thing disagreeable  may  happen."  BtSobft  LlbfUTj 

Then  turning  to  Madame  D'Aulnay,  who  approached,  he  said  to 
her, — 

"  Madame,  permit  me  to  introduce  to  you  the  wife  of  my  greatest 
NO.  xrn.  62 


49° 


CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 


enemy, —  nay,  my  greatest  enemy  herself,  since  it  is  her  heresy  and 
energy  that  inspire  her  husband's  rebellion." 

Madame  D'Aulnay  received  the  unfortunate  prisoner  with  haughty 
coldness.  She  had  no  word  or  look  of  sympathy  for  a  sister  in  her 
misfortune.  She  was  a  bigoted  Catholic,  and  Madame  La  Tour  was 
known  as  an  earnest  Protestant,  whose  heresy  she  regarded  with  feel- 
ings akin  to  horror.  She  congratulated  her  husband  on  his  success 
with  an  air  of  triumph  which  drove  the  steel  deeper  into  the  heart  of 
the  brave  but  unhappy  prisoner,  who,  without  further  parley,  was  con- 
ducted to  the  apartment  assigned  her.  Little  did  Madame  D'Aulnay 
then  think  that  in  a  few  years  she  would  succeed  this  unfortunate 
woman  as  the  wife  of  La  Tour. 

Madame  La  Tour  was  detained  at  Penobscot  as  a  close  prisoner; 
but  her  captivity  was  speedily  ended.  A  firm  Protestant,  she  had  been 
driven  from  her  native  France  by  Catholic  persecution,  and  with  untiring 
devotion  she  had  labored  to  advance  her  husband's  interests.  Separated 
from  him  now,  as  she  might  well  believe,  forever,  and  in  the  hands 
of  her  most  inveterate  enemy,  she  could  not  endure  the  indignities  to 
which  she  was  subjected,  and  the  utter  ruin  which  had  overwhelmed 
her  husband's  estate  while  in  her  charge.  Her  spirits  sank,  and  her 
health  failed,  and,  within  three  weeks  after  she  was  made  a  prisoner, 
she  died  of  grief.  D'Aulnay's  triumph  was  complete;  for  he  rightly 
believed  that  it  was  Madame  La  Tour's  spirit  which  had  sustained  his 
rival  in  their  long  contest,  and,  though  he  might  have  wished  that  she 
had  lived  to  be  the  means  of  ultimately  capturing  her  husband,  he  felt 
sure  that  La  Tour's  career  was  ended. 

But  La  Tour,  despite  his  present  misfortunes,  was  destined  in  the 
end  to  triumph  over  his  enemy.  Returning  to  St.  John  to  find  that 
his  wife  was  the  prisoner  of  his  bitter  enemy,  and  that  he  was  despoiled 
of  all  his  property  except  his  thrice-mortgaged  lands,  unable  to  find 
the  means  even  for  a  paltry  trade,  he  sought  assistance  from  Sir  David 
Kirk,  at  Newfoundland.  Disappointed  there,  he  obtained  a  passage  to 
Boston,  where  he  had  the  assurance  to  ask  for  further  aid,  notwith- 
standing the  debts  he  still  owed  for  former  relief.  By  his  plausible 
words,  and  his  seductive  manners,  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  good 
will  of  several  merchants,  who  furnished  him  with  a  vessel  manned  by 


LA   TOUR   TURNS  PIRATE. 

a  crew  of  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen,  and  well  supplied  with  articles 
with  which  he  might  traffic  with  the  Indians. 

No  longer  guided  by  his  wife,  and  having  neither  her,  nor  home, 
nor  property  to  hold  him  to  even  the  appearance  of  an  honest  life,  La 
Tour  determined  to  add  piracy  to  the  fraud  with  which  he  had  already 
wronged  his  English  friends.  He  conspired  with  the  master  of  the 
vessel,  and  some  of  the  French  crew,  to  put  the  Englishmen  ashore, 
and  run  away  with  the  vessel  and  cargo.  This  project  was  not  carried 
out  without  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Englishmen,  one  of  whom 
was  wounded  by  La  Tour;  but,  after  a  fierce  struggle,  they  were  over- 
come, and  left  upon  a  desolate  shore,  in  midwinter,  where  they  would 
have  perished  but  for  the  succor  of  some  friendly  Indians. 

Having  committed  this  act  of  cruelty  and  piracy,  La  Tour  sailed 
away  on  some  unknown  expedition,  and  disappeared  from  the  waters 
of  Nova  Scotia  and  Maine  for  several  years.  During  that  time,  D'Aul- 
nay  lived  undisturbed  by  any  rival  claims,  and  asserted  his  authority, 
unquestioned,  over  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  territory  of  Maine  east  of  the 
Penobscot.  He  was  a  bigoted  Catholic,  and  his  settlement  at  Penob- 
scot  was  the  resort  of  the  Jesuits  and  other  missionaries  who  thence 
extended  their  labors  among  the  Indians,  and  gained  an  influence  with 
them  which  secured  their  friendship  to  the  French  and  their  enmity 
to  the  English  settlers.  While  the  outlawed  La  Tour  was  absent  in 
parts  unknown,  D'Aulnay  died.  Some  months  after  that  event  the  wan- 
derer again  appeared,  and  possessing  still  the  accomplishments  and 
manners  which  had  secured  the  good  will  of  the  Puritans  of  Boston, 
he  became  a  successful  suitor  for  the  hand  of  his  old  enemy's  widow, 
and  succeeded  to  his  place  and  estate.  This  good  fortune,  however, 
did  not  make  him  any  more  disposed  to  do  justice  to  those  who  had 
befriended  him  in  his  adversity;  and  merchants  of  Boston  who  had  been 
beguiled  into  investments  on  his  fair  promises  were  never  repaid. 

Within  the  borders  of  Maine  the  French  had  settlements  at  Penob- 
scot, Mount  Desert,  Machias,  and  on  the  St.  Croix.  The  settlers,  gen- 
erally, were  of  a  poor  quality,  ignorant,  unenterprising,  and  indolent, 
under  the  control  of  a  military  government  and  a  bigoted  priesthood, 
and  the  settlements  were  far  from  flourishing.  The  French,  however, 
were  always  on  good  terms  with  the  Indians,  among  whom  the  priests 


492 


CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 


labored  with  a  certain  sort  of  success  in  making  converts,  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Catholic  church  appealing  forcibly  to  the  superstition  of  the 
natives.  French  and  Indians  mingled  freely,  and  often  lived  together 
in  the  wigwams  of  the  latter.  D'Aulnay  and  La  Tour,  in  their  traffic, 
furnished  the  natives  with  fire-arms  and  ammunition,  contrary  to  the 
general  policy  of  the  English  colonists.  But  while  the  French  held 
such  cordial  relations  with  the  Indians,  the  possession  and  use  of  fire- 
arms by  the  latter  boded  evil  only  to  the  English  settlers.  Hostility 
to  the  English  was  artfully  encouraged  by  officers  and  priests,  and  in 
time  led  to  many  outrages  and  the  shedding  of  much  blood. 

In  this  connection,  mention  may  be  made  of  the  career  of  a  French- 
man some  years  after  the  period  already  referred  to.  After  his  marriage 
of  D'Aulnay's  widow,  La  Tour  rebuilt  his  fort  and  residence  at  St.  John, 
and  enjoyed  several  years  of  quiet.  St.  John,  Penobscot,  and  several 
other  French  forts  and  settlements,  were  then  captured  by  a  naval  force 
fitted  out  at  Boston.  This  force  was  intended  to  operate  against  the 
Dutch  at  New  Netherlands;  but  peace  having  been  made  before  the 
armament  was  ready,  it  was  sent — with  some  of  the  English  ships  that 
had  come  to  reduce  New  Amsterdam  —  to  assert  the  old  claim  of  a  prior 
right  to  all  the  territory  east  of  the  Penobscot.  The  French  were  unpre- 
pared for  such  unsuspected  hostilities,  France  and  England  being  then 
at  peace,  and  the  forts  were  easily  captured.  Notwithstanding  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  places  were  captured,  Cromwell  refused 
to  restore  them,  and  the  territory  was  held  by  the  English  for  a  dozen 
years  or  more,  when  it  was  again  surrendered  by  Charles  II.  to  the 
French. 

During  this  interval  there  came  to  America,  among  the  officers 
of  the  French  troops,  the  Baron  St.  Castine,  who,  after  some  years 
of  service,  when  his  regiment  was  disbanded,  received  a  liberal  grant  of 
lands,  in  common  with  his  fellow-officers.  Castine,  with  a  few  follow- 
ers, settled  at  a  place  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Penobscot  Bay,  which 
still  bears  his  name.  There  he  established  a  trading-house  of  consid- 
erable importance ;  but  he  seems  to  have  been  disgusted  with  the 
uneventful  life  of  such  a  settlement,  and,  plunging  into  the  wilderness, 
he  took  up  his  abode  with  the  Abenaqui  or  Terratine  Indians.  He  was 
enamoured  with  savage  life,  and  adapted  himself  to  it  so  readily  that 


THE  BARON  CASTINE.  493 

he  soon  won  the  respect  of  the  savages.  He  learned  their  language, 
taught  them  the  advantages  of  military  organization,  and  acquired  so 
great  an  influence  over  them  that  they  made  him  a  great  chief.  To 
maintain  his  influence,  and  identify  himself  more  fully  with  the  tribe, 
he  accepted  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  chiefs,  who  was 
offered  to  him  as  a  wife.  He  was  made  the  great  war-chief  of  the 
nation,  and  could  summon  all  the  warriors  to  follow  him  in  any  war- 
like expedition  he  chose  to  undertake.  He  was  always  on  the  side  of 
the  French,  and^  hostile  to  the  English,  by  whom  he  was  regarded  with 
fear  and  jealousy.  He  led  his  dusky  warriors  in  several  attacks  on  the 
English  posts,  captured  Pemaquid,  and  fought  in  several  engagements 
in  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia.  He  even  planned  an  expedition  against 
Boston,  in  which,  with  his  Indian  warriors,  he  was  to  operate  on  land, 
while  a  naval  force  attacked  the  place  from  the  harbor;  but  this  project 
was  never  undertaken.  Under  his  rule,  the  Indians  imbibed  his  national 
hatred  of  the  English,  in  addition  to  their  native  hostility  to  the  whites, 
while  the  bigotry  of  the  Catholic  missionaries  taught  the  savages  intol- 
erance. 

Although  Castine  was  a  wild  and  reckless  adventurer,  and  while  in 
the  army  had  been  guilty  of  debauchery  which  had  sometimes  brought 
him  to  grief,  his  joining  the  Abenaquis  was  no  temporary  notion.  He 
lived  faithfully  attached  to  his  one  wife,*  though  Indian  customs  encour- 
aged him  to  accept  the  hands  of  other  "  princesses,"  and  was  contented 
to  hold  his  savage  court  in  the  wilderness,  though  a  large  inheritance 
invited  him  back  to  France.  Nor  did  he  forget  the  civilized  love  of 
accumulation;  but  he*  established  a  trading-house  at  his  first  settlement, 
and  by  his  influence  and  shrewd  offers  of  reward  he  obtained  great  quan- 
tities of  furs  from  his  native  subjects,  which  he  exchanged  for  "  good 
dry  gold,"  and  such  gifts  for  his  tawny  subjects  as  would  bring  him 
additional  stores  of  peltry.  In  this  way  he  amassed  a  large  fortune, 
which,  however,  was  of  little  use  in  his  chosen  style  of  living,  except 
to  prepare  hostile  expeditions,  and  ultimately  to  provide  liberal  dowries 
for  his  several  half-Indian  daughters,  who  received  a  civilized  educa- 
tion, and  married  Frenchmen  of  prominence  in  the  colony.  A  son  was 

*  Another  account  states  that  he  had  four  or  five  native  wives,  "  with  whom  he  lived  by 
turns." 


494  CONFLICTS  OF  RIVAL   FRENCH  CLAIMANTS. 

reared  both  as  a  Frenchman  and  an  Indian;  for  while  he  received  such 
instruction  adapted  to  his  rank  as  a  French  nobleman,  as  circumstances 
would  admit,  he  was  trained  in  savage  arts  also,  and  was  made  a  chief 
of  the  tribe.  After  his  father's  death,  the  younger  Castine  was  captured 
by  an  English  expedition  in  "  Lovewell's  war,"  and  carried  to  Boston, 
where  he  was  charged  with  attempting,  as  a  French  officer,  to  instigate 
the  savages  to  war.  With  the  self-control  of  the  Indian  and  the  dig- 
nity of  a  French  nobleman  he  denied  the  charge.  "  By  my  mother," 
said  he,  "  I  am  a  Tarratine  sachem,  and  all  my  life  has  been  passed 
with  that  nation.  As  their  chief,  it  was  my  duty  to  be  present  at  their 
councils,  and  I  was  there  not  by  any  orders  from  the  governor  of  Can- 
ada. The  dress  I  wear  is  not  the  uniform  of  a  French  officer,  but  one 
I  choose  as  suited  to  my  rank." 

After  being  detained  several  months  as  a  prisoner,  the  young  Castine 
was  released;  and  soon  after  he  abandoned  his  wasting  tribe  and  went 
to  France,  to  enter  upon  the  inheritance  which  his  father  had  so  strangely 
neglected. 

Castine  was  an  exaggerated  type  of  many  of  the  French  settlers  in 
Acadia.  Numbers  of  them  sought  the  society,  and  engaged  in  the  pur- 
suits and  pastimes  of  the  savages.  They  were  content  with  life  in  a 
wigwam  and  with  Indian  wives,  and  preferred  the  chase,  with  long 
intervals  of  idleness,  to  any  regular  industry.  Under  the  control  of  the 
priests,  who  did  not  condemn  such  a  course  of  life,  they  aided  the 
latter  in  extending  their  influence  over  the  Indians.  The  readiness  with 
which  the  French  adapted  themselves  to  Indian  habits  secured  the  friend- 
ship of  the  natives,  and  Gallic  and  religious  hostility  to  the  English 
encouraged  a  like  disposition  in  the  savages. 


END    OF    VOL.    I. 


NOTE.  —  For  the  matter  of  chapters  VII.  to  XI.  inclusive,  as  well  as  of  chapters  IV.  and  V., 
the  author  is  especially  indebted  to  the  admirable  works  of  Mr.  Francis  Parkman,  "  The  Pioneers 
of  France  in  the  New  World,"  and  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America  in  the  seventeenth  Century," 
which  give  the  English  reader  by  far  the  best,  and  indeed  the  only  complete  and  connected  his- 
tory of  the  early  French  efforts  at  colonization  in  America  and  conversion  of  the  natives.  To 
those  works,  the  results  of  extensive  research,  and  which  combine  the  charms  of  romance  with 
strict  fidelity  to  historical  fact,  the  reader  is  referred  for  a  more  full  and  interesting  description  of 
the  events  and  characters  outlined  in  the  above-named  chapters. 


495 


INDEX    TO    VOLUME    I. 


ACADIA,  French  settlement  in,  61-78. 

AGAMENTICUS,  settlement  of,  473;  made  a  "city," 
479;  a  civic  procession  in,  480. 

ALARM,  false,  Dudley's  account  of  a,  278. 

ALDF.N,  John,  Standi.sh's  proxy  in  courtship,  280 

ANCIKNT  and  Honorable  Artillery,  292. 

ANDROS,  Sir  Edmund,  royal  governor  of  New  Eng- 
land, 434;  at  Saybrook,  435;  in  Massachusetts, 
431;  tyrannical  course  of,  436.  437;  in  Connecti- 
cut, 438;  resistance  to,  in  Boston,  440;  taken 
prisoner,  441 ;  government  of,  subverted,  442. 

ARGALL,  Thomas,  expeditions  of,  against  the 
French  settlements,  73,  74,  156;  deputy-governor 
of  Virginia,  170;  tyrannical  conduct  of,  170,  171. 

BACON,  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  character  of,  196,  197;  re- 
fused a  commission  to  fight  Indians,  198 ;  elected 
member  of  the  assembly,  and  imprisoned,  199; 
marches  with  volunteers  into  Jamestown,  and 
demands  a  commission,  200;  denounced  as  a 
rebel,  200;  organizes  a  revolutionary  govern- 
ment, 201;  defeats  the  Indians,  202;  besieges 
Jamestown,  203;  defeats  Berkeley,  204;  death  of, 
and  failure  of  his  plans,  205. 

BELLINGHAM,  Richard,  governor,  scandalous  con- 
duct of,  283. 

BERKELEY,  Sir  William,  governor  of  Virginia,  189, 
192;  and  Bacon,  198-204;  marches  against  Ba- 
con, 200;  flight  of,  200;  attempt  to  capture,  202; 
returns  with  a  military  force  to  Jamestown,  203; 
attacks  Bacon,  and  is  defeated,  204;  recovers 
power,2O5;  vindictive  spirit  of,  206;  death  of,  207. 

BKRMUDAS,  Somers  wrecked  on,  148. 

BIARD.  Father,  in  Acadia,  70-75. 

BIENCOURT  at  Port  Royal,  71 ;  conflict  with  the 
Jesuits,  71-75. 

BLACKSTONE,  William,  at  Shawmut,  249. 

BLOCK  ISLAND,  attack  on  Indians  of,  313. 

BLOODY  BROOK,  battle  of,  392. 

BOSTON  settled,  255;  stocks  and  pillory  set  up  in, 
266;  Sunday  services  in,  in  the  early  days,  290; 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  in,  292;  Qua- 
kers arrive  in.  353;  laws  against  Quakers  pro- 
claimed in,  355;  execution  of  Quakers  in,  361; 
Andros  in.  435,  436;  resistance  to  Andros  in,  440; 
witchcraft  in,  445,  448. 

BOTELER,  Lady  Anne,  328. 

BRADFORD,  William,  209;  governor  of  Plymouth, 
214;  sends  defiance  to  Canonicus,  221;  charac- 
ter of,  245,  246;  romance  in  the  life  of,  281. 


BRADLEY,  Isaac,  captivity  and  escape  of,  423-427. 
BR^BEUF,  the  Jesuit,  labors  of,  among  Indians,  97- 

101. 

BREWSTER,  William,  Elder,  243;  character  of,  247. 
BROOKE,  Lord,  261,  307. 
BROOKFIELD,  fight  with  Indians  at.  387. 
BROWNE,  John  and  Samuel,  opposed  to  the  Puritan 

system,  252  ;  sent  back  to  England,  253. 

CANADA,  French  expeditions  to.  56,  79. 

CANONICUS,  hostile  message  of,  221. 

CAPTIVE  boys,  story  of,  423-427. 

CAROLINA,  Fort,  34,  48. 

CARPENTER,  Alice,  281. 

CARTIER  in  Canada,  56. 

CARVER,  John,  governor  of  Plymouth  colony,  209, 
213;  death  of,  214;  character  of,  245. 

CASTINE,  or  St.  Castine,  Baron,  492-494. 

CEREMONY  on  public  occasions  among  the  Pil- 
grims, 216,  284. 

CHAMPLAIN  in  Acadia,  61-67;  'n  Canada,  79-91; 
winters  at  Quebec,  81 ;  fights  the  Indians'  bat- 
tles, 85,  87,  90. 

CHASTES,  Aymar  de,  61. 

CHILDREN,  the  afflicted,  at  Salem,  450-453. 

CHRISTISON,  Wenlock,  a  Quaker,  364. 

CHURCH,  Captain,  the  Indian  fighter,  386,  412. 

CHURCH,  New  England,  in  the  olden  time,  289. 

CODDINGTON,  William,  275,  298,  300. 

COLIGNY,  Admiral,  31. 

CONANT,  Roger,  240,  248. 

CONCORD,  journey  of  colonists  to,  259. 

CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES,  origin  of,  287. 

CONNECTICUT,  emigration  from  Massachusetts  to, 
305,  306;  sufferings  of  first  settlers  in,  306;  In- 
dian murders  in,  310;  trouble  with  the  Dutch 
in,  337,  343;  Andros  in,  438;  charter  of,  con- 
cealed, 439. 

CONNECTICUT  RIVER,  Dutch  trading-post  on,  303; 
Pilgrim  establishment  on,  304. 

COREY,  Giles,  pressed  to  death  for  witchcraft,  454. 

COTTON,  Rev.  John,  273;  mild  reply  of,  to  an  in- 
sult, 279. 

CRADOCK,  Matthew,  254. 

DALE,  Sir  Thomas,  high  marshal  of  Virginia,  154; 

arrives  at  Jamestown,  154;  efficient  management 

of,  154;   returns  to  England,  157. 
DARE.  Virginia,  baptism  of,  in. 
DARTMOUTH,  Indian  attack  on,  386. 

497 


INDEX  TO   VOLUME  I. 


D'AULNAY  drives  Plymonth  traders  from  the  Pe- 

nobscot,  477;  conflict  of,  with  La  Tour,  482-491.- 

DAVENPORT,  Rev.  John,  325 ;  regicides  protected 

by,  369-372- 

DELAWARK,  Lord,  appointed  governor  of  Virginia, 
141;  arrives  at  Jamestown,  151;  wise  adminis- 
tration of,  152 ;  river  named  after.  153. 

DIXWELL,  John,  the  regicide,  375,  376. 

DRAKK,  Sir  Francis,  attacks  St.  Augustine,  54; 
helps  the  colony  at  Roanoke,  107. 

DRESS  among  the  Puritans,  461. 

DUDLEY,  Joseph,  434. 

DUDLEY,  Thomas,  deputy-governor  of  Massachu- 
setts colony,  255,  277;  describes  a  false  alarm, 
278;  quarrel  of,  with  Winthrop,  279. 

DUST  AN,  Mr.,  defends  his  family,  416. 

DUSTAN,  Mrs.,  captivity  and  escape  of,  417-419. 

DUTCH  and  English  contentions  in  Connecticut, 

337-345- 

DYER,  Mary,  a  Quaker,  360;  sentenced  to  death, 
and  reprieved,  361 ;  again  sentenced,  and  exe- 
cuted, 362. 

EATON,  Theophilus,  325 ;  governor  of  New  Haven, 

327- 

EDUCATION  encouraged  by  the  Puritans,  293. 

ELIOT,  John,  apostle  to  the  Indians,  347-349. 

ENDICOT.  John,  leads  the  first  colony  to  Massachu- 
setts, 251;  stern  Puritanism  of,  253;  cuts  down 
Morton's  May-pole.  263;  expedition  against  the 
Indians  of  Block  Island  and  Connecticut,  313,314; 
and  the  Quakers,  352,  355,  356,  363;  and  the 
regicides,  367. 

FARM-HOUSES  of  the  olden  time,  457,  458. 

FENWICK.  George.  327. 

FLORIDA,  Ponce  de  Leon's  expedition  to,  7;  Nar- 
vaez's  expedition  to,  9;  De  Soto's  expedition  to, 
10;  Huguenots  in,  31-48;  scenery  of,  35;  first 
permanent  settlement  in,  49-55. 

FRENCH  claimants  in  Maine,  conflicts  of,  482-494. 

GALLUP,  John,  bold  exploit  of,  312. 

GARDINER,  Christopher,  a  base  adventurer,  264. 

GATES,  SirThomas.  141,  152,  154;  arrives  at  James- 
town, 150;  abandons  Jamestown,  151;  and  re- 
turns, 151  ;  prevents  a  recall  of  the  colony,  154; 
returns  to  Virginia,  155. 

GEORGIANA,  "  city  "  of,  479. 

GOFFE,  William,  the  regicide,  366-375,  390. 

GOODWIN,  John,  children  of.  448-450. 

GORGES,  Sir  Ferdinand,  242,  466,  470,  478,  479, 
481. 

GORGES,  Robert,  243,  249. 

GORTON,  Samuel,  obnoxious  to  the  Puritans,  275; 
punishment  of,  276. 

GOSNOLD,  Bartholomew,  expedition  of,  to  New 
England,  113.  114,  464;  names  Cape  Cod,  114; 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  plant  a  colony,  114;  in 
Virginia,  116.  120. 

GOURGUES,  Dominique  de,  avenges  the  massacre 
of  the  Huguenots,  47,  48. 

GRENVILLE,  Sir  Richard,  105,  108. 

HADLEY.  Indian  attack  on,  390,  411. 

HAMOR.  Thomas,  escape  of,  from  Indians,  179. 

HARTFORD,  Connecticut,   settled,  307;  expedition 

from,    against   Indians,    318;   troubles  with   the 

Dutch  at,  337. 
HAKVARD  COLLEGE  founded,  293. 


HAVERHILL,  Indian  attacks  on,  415,  420. 

HAWKINS,  Sir  John,  succors  the  Huguenots,  41. 

HAYNES,  John,  at  Hartford,  307;  character  of,  308. 

HIBBENS,  Ann,  tried  and  executed  for  witchcraft, 
445.  44°; 

HOOKER.  Rev.  Mr.,  lead*  a  colony  to  Connecticut, 306. 

HUGUENOT  colony  in  Florida,  31-48;  massacre  of, 
by  Spaniards,  44. 

HUSKING-FROLICS,  458. 

HUTCHINSON,  Anne,  261 ;  proclaims  freedom  for 
religious  opinion,  273;  banished  from  Massachu- 
setts, 274;  goes  to  Rhode  Island,  274,  298. 

INDIANS,  baptism  of,  in  Acadia,  69;  Jesuits  among, 
97-102;  massacre  by.  in  Virginia,  177;  war  with, 
in  Virginia,  182 ;  murders  by,  in  Connecticut, 
310;  war  with,  in  Connecticut,  318-324;  captive, 
sold  as  slaves  by  Massachusetts,  324;  war  with, 
in  Massachusetts  (fee  King  Philip  s  War). 

ISLE  OF  DEMONS,  57. 

JAMESTOWN  and  Captain  John  Smith,  115-145;  set- 
tlement of,  116;  Indian  attack  on,  119;  character 
of  settlers,  116,  127,  128,  142;  fatal  sickness  at, 
120,  140;  discontent  and  mutiny  at,  122,  127,  140, 
155;  want  of  food  at,  122,  140,  147;  miserable 
condition  of  inhabitants,  150;  departure  of  sur- 
vivors from,  151;  return  to.  151;  church  in,  152; 
official  display  at,  153:  idle  habits  of  settlers  of, 
154;  burned  by  Bacon.  204. 

JESUITS  in  Acadia,  69-75;  in  Canada,  92-102;  ef- 
forts of,  to  convert  Indians.  97-102  ;  before  hostile 
Indian  councils,  99,  too;  dangers  and  persecu- 
tion incurred  by.  ico,  IOI. 

JOHNSON,  Isaac,  256. 

JOHNSON,  Lady  Arabella,  death  of,  256. 

JONES,  Margaret,  executed  for  witchcraft,  444. 

KING  PHILIP'S  war,  384-413. 
KIRK,  Admiral,  94. 

LANCASTER,  Indian  attack  on,  400. 

LANE,  Ralph,  governor  of  the  Roanoke  colony,  105. 

LA  TOUR  destroys  the  Plymouth   trading-post   at 

Machias,  476;  conflict  of,  with  D'Aulnay.  482-491. 
LA  TOUR,    Madame,   in   Boston,  486;   defends  St. 

John,  488;   taken  prisoner  by  D'Aulnay,  489. 
LAUDONNIKRE,  Rene  de,  commander  of  Huguenot 

colony  in  Florida,  33. 

LEDDRA,  William,  a  Quaker,  executed,  362. 
LE  FLECHE,  Father,  baptizes  Indians,  69. 
LE  MOYNE,  a  French  artist  in  Florida,  35. 
LESCARBOT  at  Port  Royal,  65. 
LIBERTY,  spirit  of,  in  New  England,  428-442. 
LYFORD,  Rev.  Mr.,  expelled  from  Plymouth,  241. 

MAINE,  explorations  and  first  settlement  in,  464- 
469;  plantations  and  trading-posts  in,  470-481; 
rival  French  claimants  in,  482-494. 

MARGUERITE,  57. 

MASON,  Captain  John,  in  Pequot  war,  318-321. 

MASSACHUSETTS,  Endicot  leads  the  first  colony  to, 
251;  privations  of  early  settlers  of,  251,  255;  a 
Puritan  commonwealth  founded  in,  253;  mor- 
tality among  the  settlers  of,  256;  government 
established  in,  257;  increased  emigration  to,  258; 
religious  dissensions  in,  261 ;  persecution  of  Qua- 
kers in,  352-363;  interior  settlements  in,  377  ;  quo 
ivarranto  against  charter  of,  433;  charter  of,  ad- 
judged forfeited,  434;  revolution  in,  440,  441. 


INDEX  TO   VOLUME  I. 


499 


MASSACHUSETTS  BAY,  pioneer  settlers  about,  248. 

MASSACRES  and  captivities,  414-427. 

MASSASOIT,  treaty  with,  215;  visit  of,  to  Plymouth, 
216;  friendship  of,  for  the  Plymouth  settlers,  217. 

MASSE,  Father,  in  Acadia,  70-75. 

MATTHEWS,  Captain,  a  Virginia  gentleman,  187. 

MAVERICK.  Samuel,  at  Noddle;s  Island,  250. 

MAYFLOWER,  voyage  of  the,  208. 

MAYHEW,  Thomas,  labors  of,  among  Indians, 
350. 

MAY-POLE  at  Merry  Mount,  237. 

MEDFIELD,  Indian  attack  on,  408. 

MENENDEZ,  Pedro,  threatens  the  Huguenots,  42 ; 
appointed  governor  of  Florida,  49;  plants  a  col- 
ony at  St.  Augustine,  51;  treachery  of,  45,  46; 
career  of,  in  Florida,  55. 

MERRY  MOUNT,  settlement  at,  236;  carousals  at, 
236,  237  ;  reckless  conduct  of  settlers,  237  ;  Stand- 
ish  suppresses  a  nuisance  at,  238. 

MIANTONOMOH,  331-335;  condemned  to  death  by 
advice  of  the  ministers,  335;  death  of,  335. 

MILITARY  organization  of  the  Puritans,  291. 

MISSISSIPPI  RIVER,  discovery  of,  by  De  Soto,  23. 

MONHEGAN,  472. 

MONTS,  Sieur  de,  colonizes  Acadia,  61-67;  'n  Can- 
ada, 79. 

MORTON,  Thomas,  223;  master  of  Merry  Mount, 
236  ;  his  account  of  Standish's  exploit  at  Wey- 
mouth,  238,  239;  sent  to  England,  239;  return 
to  Merry  Mount,  263;  punished  and  again  ban- 
ished, 264. 

MOSAIC  LAW  in  New  Haven  colony,  327. 

MOUNT  DESERT,  French  attempt  to  settle  at,  73; 
prevented  by  Argall,  73. 

MULLINS,  Priscilla,  280. 

NARRAGANSETTS,  suspicions  of,  in  Massachusetts 

and  Connecticut,  331-333  ;  defeated  by  the  Mohe- 

gans,  334;  defeat  of,  397. 
NARVAEZ,  Pamphilo  de,  9. 
NAUMKEAG  selected  for  settlement,  249. 
NEW  HAVEN,  settlement  of,  325 ;   Mosaic  law  in, 

327;  and  the  Dutch,  343. 
NEWPORT,  Captain,  commander  of  ships  carrying 

the  colonists  to  Jamestown,  118,  119,  126,  127,  129, 

132.  152. 

NINIGRET,  the  Niantic  chief,  342. 
NORTH  CAROLINA,  English  pioneers  in,  103;  first 

settlement  in,  abandoned,  108. 
NORTHFIELD,  fight  with  Indians  near,  391. 
NORTON,  Rev.  John,  353,  355,  356. 

OLDHAM,  John,  ignominiously  expelled  from  Plym- 
outh. 241 ;  at  Cape  Ann,  248. 

OPECHANCANOUGH,  chief  of  Pamunkey,  123,  137, 
177.  183. 

PARRIS,  Rev.  Mr.,  450,  451. 

PARSONS,  Hugh  and  Mary,  accused  of  witchcraft, 

444'  445- 

PEOJ;OT  WAR,  315-324. 
PHILIP  of  Pokanoket,  379;  fears  of,  in  Plymouth, 

379-381 ;   hostile  attitude  of.  towards  the  whites, 

380-383:  commences  war.  384;    secures  alliance 

of  Narragansetts,  396;    continues  the  war,  398; 

retires  to  Mount  Hope,  412;  death  of,  413. 
PIERCE,  John,  242. 
PILGRIMS,  the,  at  Plymouth,   208-219;   arrive   at 

Cape  Cod,  209;    land  at  Plymouth,  211;    spirit! 

and  character  of,  211,212;  compact  of,  212  ;  sick- 


ness among,  213;  privations  of,  218,  219;  send 
aid  to  Wessagusset,  224;  leaders  of,  245-247; 
punishment  of  offences  among,  267;  trading- 
posts  of,  in  Maine,  474-477. 

PLYMOUTH,  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at,  211;  the 
first  house  built  at,  213;  famine  at,  218,  219; 
plot  of  hostile  Indians  against,  213;  charter  and 
government  of,  242-244. 

POCAHONTAS  saves  Smith's  life.  125,  159;  enter- 
tains Smith,  130;  warns  Smith  of  danger,  135; 
story  of,  158-168;  friendship  for  Smith,  161,  162; 
taken  prisoner  by  Argall,  162;  baptized,  164; 
John  Rolfe  a  suitor  for  her  hand,  164;  marriage 
of,  164,  165;  visits  England,  165;  interview  with 
Smith,  167;  death  of,  168. 

PONCE  DE  LEON  and  Florida,  I ;  search  for  the 
Fountain  of  Youth,  7 ;  death  of,  8. 

PoNTGRAvf:  in  Acadia,  61,  63. 

POPHAM  Colony  in  Maine,  464-469. 

PORT  ROYAL  (Acadia),  settlement  at,  63;  winter 
pastimes  at,  65,  66. 

PORT  ROYAL  (South  Carolina),  French  colonists 
at,  31. 

POUTRINCOURT,  Baron  de,  settlement  of,  at  Port 
Royal  (Acadia),  62-77. 

POWELL,  Caleb,  accused  of  witchcraft,  447. 

POWHATAN,  119,  124,  163  ;  coronation  of,  131  ; 
treachery  of,  135. 

PRINCE,  Mary,  and  the  Puritan  ministers,  355. 

PRING,  Martin,  464. 

PROVIDENCE,  founded  by  Roger  Williams.  296;  re- 
ligious liberty  in,  297;  fanatics  and  radicals  in, 
300;  quarrels  and  disturbances  in.  301. 

PUNISHMENT  of  offences  in  Massachusetts,  266; 
among  the  Pilgrims,  267. 

PURITANS,  the,  in  Massachusetts,  252 ;  opponents 
to  the  system  of,  sent  to  England,  253;  abuse  of, 
by  malcontents  in  England.  264,  265 ;  laws  of, 
266,  268;  intolerance  of,  269;  religion  of,  287; 
military  organization  among,  291 ;  jealousy  of, 
tow:irds  Rhode  Island,  299;  persecution  of  Qua- 
kers by,  352-365;  believers  in  witchcraft,  443; 
some  more  genial  traits  of,  456-463. 

QUAKERS,  persecution  0^352-365;  fanaticism  of, 
362,  363;  whipping  and  other  punishments  of, 
364;  a  reaction  in  favor  of,  364. 

QUEBEC,  settlement  at,  79,  80:  Jesuits  at.  92:  sur- 
rendered to  the  English,  94;  restored  to  the 
French,  95. 

RALEIGH,  Sir  Walter,  first  English  colony  in  Amer- 
ica planted  by,  103;  second  colony  of,  109;  ef- 
forts of.  to  succor  his  colony,  112. 

RANDOLPH,  Edward,  432,  434. 

RASIERES,  Isaac  de,  messenger  from  New  Amster- 
dam to  Plymouth,  284. 

RATCLIFF,  Philip,  punishment  of,  265. 

REGICIDES,  the,  366-376. 

RELIGION  among  the  Puritans,  287. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  first  settlement  on,  298;  agitators 
and  fanatics  in,  300;  belligerent  proclivities  of 
people  of,  301. 

RIBAUT,  31,  41,  46. 

ROANOKE  ISLAND,  unsuccessful  settlement  on,  103; 
the  lost  colony  of,  109-113. 

ROBERVAL,  expedition  of,  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  56. 

ROBINSON,  Rev.  John,  229,  245 ;  prevented  from 
coming  to  Plymouth,  243. 

ROLFE,  John,   150,   157 ;  sent  to  make  peace  with 


500 


INDEX  TO   VOLUME  I. 


Powhatan,  163  ;  marriage  of,  to  Pocahontas,  164, 

165. 

ROWLANDSON,  Mary,  captivity  of,  401-407. 
ROYAL  tyranny  in  New  England,  428-439. 

SABBATH,  the,  strict  observance  of,  by  the  Puri- 
tans, 288. 

SACHEMS'  HEAD,  323. 

SACHEMS'  PLAIN,  336. 

SACO,  settlement  at,  471. 

SAINT  AUGUSTINE,  Spanish  settlement  of,  49-55; 
life  in,  52 ;  Sir  Francis  Drake  at,  54. 

SAINT  CROIX  RIVER,  French  settlement  on  the, 
62. 

SAINT  JOHNS  RIVER,  Huguenots  settle  on  the.  33. 

SAINT  LAWRENCE  RIVER,  French  expeditions  to, 
56-60. 

SAINT  MARKS,  fortress  of,  52. 

SALEM,  settlement  at,  251 ;  Roger  Williams  at,  270; 
witchcraft  in,  448,  450-454. 

SAMOSET  welcomes  the  Pilgrims,  215. 

SAN  MATTED,  48. 

SAY  AND  SEAL,  Lord,  261,  307. 

SAYBROOK,  Fort.  307,  327. 

SMITH,  John,  Captain,  in  Virginia,  116;  the  lend- 
ing spirit  of  the  colony,  116;  previous  adven- 
tures of,  117;  management  of  the  colony  devolved 
upon,  121;  suppresses  a  mutiny,  121 ;  captured  by 
Indians,  123;  condemned  to  death,  and  saved  by 
Pocahontas,  125,  159,  160;  condemned  by  the  col- 
onists, 126;  plots  against,  116,  126,  132,  144;  deal- 
ings with  the  Indians,  134-139;  bravery  of,  137, 
139;  captures  the  chief  of  Paspahegh,  139;  acci- 
dent to,  144;  returns  to  England,  144;  services 
of,  in  Virginia,  144,  145;  his  career,  145;  appeal 
to  the  queen  inbehalf  of  Pocahontas,  165;  names 
New  England,  471. 

SOMERS,  Sir  George,  141,  152,  153;  wrecked  on  the 
Bermudas,  148;  escapes,  149,  150;  death  of,  153. 

SOTO,  Ferdinand  de,  expedition  of,  10-30;  discov- 
ers the  Mississippi,  23;  death  of,  28. 

SPINNING-BEES,  459. 

SPRINGFIELD,  William  Pynchon  at,  307;  Indian 
attack  on.  393,  394. 

SqyANTO,  Indian  interpreter,  215. 

STANDISH,  Miles,  Captain,  209,  235;  first  expedi- 
tion of,  against  Indians,  217;  goes  to  defence  of 
Weymouth,  225;  encounter  with  Pecksuot,  226; 
defeats  the  Indians  at  Weymouth,  227;  return 
of,  to  Plymouth,  229;  suppresses  a  nuisance  at 
Merry  Mount,  238;  at  Cape  Ann,  240;  character 
and  services  of,  247;  courtship  of,  280. 

STOCKS  set  up  in  Boston,  266. 

STUYVESANT  at  Hartford,  339. 

SUNDAY,  strict  observance  of,  by  the  Puritans,  288; 
services  in  Boston  in  the  early  days,  290;  even- 
ing, 291. 

SWAN,  Mrs.,  bold  exploit  of,  422. 

SWANSEY,  King  Philip's  attack  on,  384. 

THANKSGIVING,  New  England,  origin  of,  459;  in 

the  farm-house,  460 
THORPE,  Mr.,  a  friend  of  the  Indians  in  Virginia, 

178. 

TlTUBA,  450-452. 

TURNER'S  FALLS,  battle  of,  410. 

UNCAS,  331;  hostility  of,  to  Miantonomoh,  332; 
treacherous  conduct  of.  333";  a  faithful  friend  to 
the  Connecticut  colonists,  336. 


UNDERHILL,  John,  Captain,  316;   in  Pequot  war, 

318,  321,322. 
UNITED  Colonies  of  New  England,  329. 

VANE,  Sir  Henry,  character  of,  260;  chosen  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,  261 ;  favors  the  views  of 
Anne  Hutchinson,  273. 

VINES,  Richard,  settles  at  Saco,  471. 

VIRGINIA,  named  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  104;  first 
permanent  settlement  in,  115;  new  settlements 
in,  147,  156;  proposed  recall  of  colonists  in,  154; 
first  assembly  in,  172;  introduction  of  slaves  into, 
173;  marriageable  women  sent  to,  173;  disposal 
of  wives  to  settlers  in,  174;  massacre  of  settlers 
in,  by  Indians,  177-182;  character  of  colonists  of, 
184-188;  prosperous  condition  of,  186;  products 
of,  186;  under  the  Commonwealth.  189-192;  loy- 
alty of,  to  the  Stuarts,  189;  submits  to  the  Par- 
liamentary force,  191 ;  rejoicing  in,  at  restoration 
of  monarchy,  192. 

WADSWORTH,  Captain,  battle  with  Indians,  409. 

WAINWRIGHT,  Mrs.,  cool  artifice  of,  421. 

WESSAGUSSET,  adventurers  settle  at,  221;  reckless 
character  of  settlers,  222;  trouble  with  Indians 
at,  223;  vicarious  punishment  at,  223;  plots  of 
hostile  Indians  against,  223;  Miles  Standish  at, 
226;  fight  with  Indians,  227. 

WESTON,  Thomas,  at  Wessagusset,  221. 

WEYMOUTH,  George,  on  the  Penobscot,  465. 

WEYMOUTH  (fee  Wessagusset). 

WHALLEY,  Edward,  the  regicide,  366-373. 

WHEELWRIGHT,  Rev.  John,  273;  banished  from 
Massachusetts,  274;  settles  at  Exeter,  274. 

WHIPPING-POST,  stocks,  and  pillory  in  Boston,  266. 

WHITE,  John,  governor  of  second  colony  in  Ro- 
anoke,  109,  112. 

WHITTAKER,  Joseph,  captivity  and  escape  of,  423- 

4-7- 

WILLARD,  Major  Simon,  settles  at  Concord,  259; 
commands  expedition  against  Indians,  343  ;  re- 
lieves Brookfield,  388. 

WILLIAMS,  Roger,  opinions  of,  269-271;  opposi- 
tion of  Puritan  clergy  to,  270;  "dangerous  doc- 
trines" of,  271 ;  the  champion  of  religious  liberty, 
272;  sentence  of  exile  against,  272;  at  Provi- 
dence, 296;  goes  to  England  for  a  charter,  299; 
character  of,  300;  foils  the  Pequot  emissaries  to 
the  Narragansetts,  317. 

WINGFIELD,  president  of  the  council  at  Jamestown, 
116:  attempts  to  desert  Jamestown,  121. 

WINSLOW.  Edward,  209;  visit  of,  toMassasoit,  230- 
234;  character  and  services  of,  246;  visits  the 
Connecticut  River,  303;  commands  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Indians,  396. 

WINTHROP,  John,  governor  of  Massachusetts  col- 
onv,  254;  arrival  of,  in  Massachusetts,  255;  again 
chosen  governor  ,273  ;  benevolence  and  humor  of, 
278;  visits  Plymouth,  285;  and  Chickatabot,  286. 

WINTHROP,  John,  the  younger,  establishes  a  fort 
at  Saybrook,  307  ;  character  of,  309. 

WITCHCRAFT,  443-455. 

WOLLASTON,  Mount.  236. 

WOMEN,  marriageable,  sent  to  Virginia,  173;  dis- 
posal of,  to  settlers,  174. 

WOTTON.  surgeon  at  Jamestown,  116,  120. 

WYATT,  Sir  Francis,  governor  of  Virginia,  175. 

YEARDLEY,  George,  deputy-governor  of  Virginia, 
169;  governor,  171. 


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others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
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trations are  all.  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

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FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

The  work  -will  be  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  work. 

Each  Part  will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUK  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being-  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
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No  subscription  will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
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FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO  CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


••!$$£:  t- 

CONDITIONS    OF  PUBLICATION. 

The  -work  will  be  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  -work. 

Each  Part  will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
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SAMUEL    WALKER    &    CO.,  18   Arch   Street,  Boston. 


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Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO  CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


I 


T  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 

indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

The  -work  will  be  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  -work. 

Each  Part  'will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWKNTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
in  advance. 

No  subscription  will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
to  the  present  conditions. 

iy  SUBSCRIBERS    REMOVING,  OR   NOT  BEING   REGULARLY   SUPPLIED,  WILL   PLEASE   NOTIFY  THE    PUBLISHERS, 

BY    MAIL   OR   OTHERWISE. 

SAMUEL,    WALKER    &    CO.,   18   Arch  Street,  Boston. 


TO    BE    COMPLETED    I1T    TWENTY  -  FOT7R    PARTS. 

Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 

( 

romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  BARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

The  -work  -will  be  -published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  work. 

Each  Part  will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  -will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
in  advance. 

No  subscription  will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
to  the  present  conditions. 

CS^  SUBSCRIBERS    REMOVING,  OR   NOT  BEING  REGULARLY  SUPPLIED,  WILL  PLEASE  NOTIFY  THE   PUBLISHERS, 

BY  MAIL  OR  OTHERWISE. 

SAMUEL    WALKER    &   CO.,  18  Arch  Street,  Boston. 


TO    BE    COMPLETED    IXT    TWENTY- FO'CTB.    PARTS. 

Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF  PUBLICATION. 

The  -work  will  be  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
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in  advance. 

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Perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
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FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO  CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 

-  »«i3»Ef  - 

CONDITIONS    OF  PUBLICATION. 

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Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


PROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  anc 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  if 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character 
istics  of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusivi 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn 
sylvania,  the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  th< 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  ant 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  thesf 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  anc 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  arc  followed  by  peacf 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  t( 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  DARLEY 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  theii 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  anc 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr, 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  al 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as^the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

The  ivork  will  be  •published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  work. 

Each  Part  will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
in  advance. 

No  subscription  will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
to  the  present  conditions. 

S3P  SUBSCRIBERS    REMOVING,  OR   NOT  BEING   REGULARLY   SUPPLIED,  WILL   PLEASE   NOTIFY  THE   PUBLISHERS, 

BY   MAIL   OR   OTHERWISE.  t 

SAMUEL    WALKER    &    CO.,  18  Arch  Street,  Boston. 


TO    BE    COMPLETED    ZU    TWEiTT^-FOTJR 

Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 

- 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  the 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  to 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  D.  C.  DARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the.  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    Of  PUBLICATION. 

The  work  will  Ic  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  work. 

Each  Part  will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  delivery,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
in  advance. 

No  subscription  will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform  their  part  as  above  stated,  they  will  consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
to  the  present  conditions. 

SUBSCRIBERS   REMOVING,  OR  NOT  BEING  REGULARLY  SUPPLIED,  WILL  PLEASE  NOTIFY  THE  PUBLISHERS, 


BY   MAIL   OR   OTHERWISE. 


SAMUEL    WALKER    &   CO.,  18  Arch  Street,  Boston. 


TO    BE    COMPLETED    I1T    T  WENT  Y- FOT7B,    PARTS. 

Price  Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  anc 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  hi 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character 
istics  of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida 
the  thriftless  adventurer  and  the  proud  cavalier  of  Virginia,  the  tolerant  Catholic  of  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
Puritan  of  New  England,  the  fearless  Jesuit  of  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  the  peaceful  Quaker  of  Perm- 
sylvania,  the  thrifty  Dutch  trader  of  New  Netherlands,  the  daring  backwoodsman,  the  sturdy  descendant  of  th< 
early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  anc 
others  who  have  braved  danger  and  suffered  privations  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  history  of  these 
various  pioneers  is  a  record  of  terrible  hardships  endured  and  fearful  perils  encountered,  of  strange  events  and 
romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
been  written  by  the  author  of  a  recent  illustrated  History  of  the  late  Civil  War,  which  has  been  acknowledged  tc 
be  among  the  best  of  the  contemporary  histories  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  artistic  department  of  the  work  the  Publishers  can  confidently  challenge  competition.  The  illus- 
trations are  all  from  original  drawings,  made  expressly  and  exclusively  for  this  work,  by  F.  O.  C.  BARLEY, 
W.  L.  SHEPPARD,  G.  PERKINS,  and  others,  from  subjects  selected  by  the  author,  and  the  artists  have  added  to  their 
reputations  as  the  leading  designers  of  America.  The  initial  letters  of  the  chapters  were  also  designed  and 
engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  The  engraving  has  been  under  the  special  and  personal  supervision  of  Mr. 
GEORGE  T.  ANDREW,  of  the  firm  of  JOHN  ANDREW  &  SON,  by  whom,  with  W.  J.  LINTON,  A.  V.  S.  ANTHONY,  and 
others,  it  has  been  executed  in  a  style  unequalled  by  any  similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country.  Printed  at 
the  well-known  University  Press,  these  illustrations,  as  well  as  the  letter-press,  are  wholly  American,  and  may  well 
be  offered  in  this  Centennial  year,  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  American  art  and  workmanship. 


CONDITIONS    OF   PUBLICATION. 

The  work  -will  be  published  in  SEMI-MONTHLY  PARTS,  and  printed  on  highly  calendered  toned  paper,  of 
superior  quality,  made  expressly  for  this  ivork. 

Each  Part  'will  contain  four  Engravings  and  forty  pages  of  Letter-press,  and  will  be  completed  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  PARTS,  at  50  cents  each,  payable  on  deli-very,  the  carrier  not  being  allowed  to  give  credit  or  receive  pay 
in  advance. 

No  subscription  -will  be  taken  for  less  than  ONE  ENTIRE  COPY  ;  and  as  the  Publishers  pledge  themselves  to 
perform   their  part  as  above   stated,  they  -will   consider  every  subscriber  pledged  to  receive  the  work  agreeably 
to  the  present  conditions. 
r   EP  SUBSCRIBERS    REMOVING,  OR  NOT  BEING  REGULARLY  SUPPLIED,  WILL  PLEASE  NOTIFY  THE   PUBLISHERS, 

BY   MAIL    OR   OTHERWISE. 

SAMUEL    WALKER    &    CO.,  18   Arch  Street,  Boston. 


¥(U15flROH 


TO    BE    COMPLETED    IN    TWENTY- FOUR    PARTS. 

Price   Fifty  Cents  each. 


FROM  FLORIDA,   1510,  TO   CALIFORNIA,   1849. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  confidence  that  the  Publishers  offer  to  the  public  this  interesting  and 
indisputably  most  elegant  work  which  has  ever  been  issued,  in  parts,  in  this  country. 

The  purpose  of  the  work  is,  with  historic  outlines  of  the  explorations  and  settlements  of  Europeans  in 
America,  and  of  the  later  emigration  westward,  to  delineate  events  and  incidents  which  illustrate  the  character- 
istics of  the  Pioneers,  including,  under  that  name,  the  cruel  Spanish  bigot  and  fierce  French  Huguenot  in  Florida, 
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early  colonists  seeking  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness,  the  Mormon  of  Utah,  the  gold-hunter  of  California,  and 
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romantic  episodes,  of  religious  zeal  and  superstitious  fanaticism,  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  of  sturdy  courage 
and  daring  exploits.  Massacres  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  and  savages,  by  turn  chill  the  blood  of  the  reader  ; 
the  early  enslavement  of  natives  is  avenged  by  the  sad  captivity  of  whites  ;  war  and  famine  are  followed  by  peace 
and  plenty  ;  and,  with  persistent  energy  and  strong  arms,  civilization  establishes  itself  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  subdues 
the  forest,  makes  the  wilderness  bloom,  and  advances  westward,  over  mountains  and  across  plains,  to  the  Pacific. 

The  materials  have  been  gathered  over  a  wide  field,  and  always  from  authentic  sources  ;  and  the  work  has 
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